They could be a combination of Top Guns and Thunderbirds - protecting the Earth using swarms of smart satellites.

To be called Space Mission Force, the U.S. Air Force Space Command has revealed its plans for a new type of soldier.

The group will utilise existing satellites and weapons to 'operate as warfighters' in orbit.

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The Russian Federation has said it is preparing to publish data on the locations of all operating satellites in orbit around the Earth including secret military satellties operated by the US and its allies (illustrated). These are currently not included in public databases released by the North American Aerospace Defense Command

HOW IT WILL WORK The new programme will train satellite operators in warfare. It aims to better prepare airmen to operate military satellites in a threatened environment and includes tactics to respond to threats. The plan calls for operators to receive intensive training for four to six months, and then spend the next four to six months putting their newly learned skills to the test by having experienced and rookie operators working side-by-side. Advertisement

'Our space forces must demonstrate their ability to react to a thinking adversary and operate as warfighters in this environment,' Gen. John Hyten wrote in 'Space Mission Force: Developing Space Warfighters for Tomorrow,' an eight-page white paper outlining the plan.

'If we do not adopt this transformation quickly, we will lose our competitive advantage in space and jeopardize our ability to successfully confront adversaries in all domains.'

It aims to better prepare airmen to operate military satellites in a threatened environment and includes tactics to respond to threats.

It is described as 'as a ready force able to operate weapons systems and execute missions in a CDO environment.'

Air Force space leaders have been planning the program for more than a year and Hyten, the head of Air Force Space Command, has made the Space Mission Force a prominent part of his speeches in the last eight months, according to spacenews.com

'The training and skills that sustained our space operations for the last several decades are not the same skills we need to fight through threats and win in today's contested, degraded and operationally‐limited environment,' Hyten wrote.

The plan calls for operators to receive intensive training for four to six months, and then spend the next four to six months putting their newly learned skills to the test by having experienced and rookie operators working side-by-side.

'Adversaries have developed and fielded capabilitiesto disrupt and deny the space systems we operate on behalf of the United States and our allies and partners.

'Consequently, AFSPC must organize, train and equip our space forces in a way that maintains our vigilance and, if required, defends our ability to benefit from space across the spectrum of conflict.'

It comes as Russia has said that is planning to make public a comprehensive database of all the satellites, spacecraft and debris it has been tracking in orbit around the planet.

But unlike official lists published by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), it has promised to include military satellites used by the United States and its allies.

While it might seem like an unlikely move for a country not known for its openness, details of Russia's military satellites are already public knowledge under information published by the US.

There are an estimated 500,000 pieces of space junk and satellites being tracked in orbit around the Earth (illustrated) with most concentrated around the Low Earth Orbits used by military satellites. Scientists warn this could lead to collisions with operational satellites

NEWEST US SPYSAT SPOTTED Just over a week ago, the world's largest rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, carrying a secret spy satellite. A live feed of the launch was cut after roughly six minutes to maintain the payload's secrecy – but it has now been spotted by amateur satellite trackers. Only three days after the launch, an Australian observer located the payload through a 'dedicated photographic survey.' The find is detailed on the blog of Marco Langbroek, a satellite tracker who helped guide Paul Camilleri toward the discovery, along with fellow skygazer Ted Molczan. By their calculations, the satellite was found near longitude 104E, over the Strait of Malacca, a stretch between the Malaysian Peninsula and the Indonesian Island of Sumatra. They say it appears to be drifting westward. The satellite is one of the National Reconnaissance Office's SIGINT satellites, which are used to 'listen' for radio signals. Advertisement

According to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, the Russian proposals, which they outlined at a meeting of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna, are aimed at levelling the playfield.

Russia said it wanted details of all satellites to be held in a UN-run database designed for 'collecting, systemising, sharing and analysing information on objects and events in outer space'.

Their submission to the meeting is a sign of the growing tensions over exploration of outer space.

It also raises concerns at the US governments 'unilateral decision' to give its 'own companies carte blanche to exploit space mineral resources'.

Russia insisted its information sharing proposals would help to ensure the safety of the growing amount of traffic in space.

There are an estimated 1,380 operating satellites currently in orbit around the Earth, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has been collating its own database.

It estimates that 149 of these are operated by the US military or have joint use.

Allies of the US are also not included in the NORAD databases but it is thought that Israel has nine military satellites in orbit, the UK has seven, France has eight and Germany has seven.

Together with the large amount of spacecraft debris and other junk orbiting the planet, the space around the Earth is becoming increasingly crowded.

The Russian proposal said that despite objections from the US that seemed to be aimed at blocking a UN-run list of satellites, the Russian government would change its policy and publish its own data.

Russia claims its telescopes and tracking systems, such as those at the Altai Optical Laser Centre in Zmeinogorsky, Siberia, (pictured), are capable to spotting far more objects orbiting the planet than are made public in databases published by the US authorities

Recently Russia's Altai Optical Laser Centre spotted the US spy satellite Lacrosse Radar Reconnaissance Satellites, imaging them in detail for the first time (pictured)

It claims that its telescopes and tracking systems are able to spot around 40 per cent more space objects than those seen in databases made public by the Americans.

IS SPACE JUNK HIDING SPYSATS? Last year a senior Russian aerospace commander sensationally claimed that some spy satellites are masquerading as space junk in Earth orbit. The official refused to comment on how many such satellites there were, and which countries were operating them. It suggests there could be more satellites than thought monitoring different countries on Earth. The claims were made by the commander of Russian Space Command, Oleg Maidanovich. He was speaking on a film called 'Space Special Forces' during a tour of Russia's main centre for aerospace intelligence in Krasnoznamensk, near Moscow. 'Very recently, specialists of the department of space intelligence centre uncovered a newly created group of space satellites... made for radio-technical reconnaissance of equipment on Russian territory,' he said. Advertisement

The Russian proposal said: 'The Russian Federation proceeds to establish a national information service, whose function shall be to provide open access to the results of monitoring objects and events in outer space.'

Russia is thought to have the second highest number of military satellites in orbit around the Earth, with around 75 being used for military or joint use. China is thought to have 35.

Most military satellites are used for communication, early warning systems to look for missile launches, intelligence gathering and navigation.

Russian diplomats are said to be frustrated by the US's attempts to regulate space traffic while refusing to disclose information on many of their own satellites.

Many space agencies are now involved in tracking the location of man-made objects in space including Nasa, the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the European Space Agency and China.

However, Igor Molotov, a research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia: 'Our network spots approximately 40 per cent more objects than you can find in open American databases.