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[I] Issue Introduction
Growing U.S. and global dependence on space assets for a wide variety of scientific, economic, and military purposes has raised concerns about what might happen if such assets were to be threatened by hostile countries. Today, only the United States and Russia have tested space weapons of any sort, but a handful of other countries (including India and China) are believed to be conducting at least initial research into lasers and kinetic kill systems intended for space attack. With Russia’s old anti-satellite system believed to be no longer operational and with the tentative nature of other foreign programs, the United States sits in a leadership position in this debate. At the Conference on Disarmament (CD), however, there is a stalemate in talks due to China’s freezing of negotiations on all forms of arms control (including the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty) until the United States agrees to negotiations on a treaty to prevent the weaponization of space. Both sides have refused to budge, resulting in a stoppage of business at the CD for the past two years.
Thus far, the Bush administration has enunciated a largely military-driven response to space vulnerabilities, suggesting the inevitability of space-based weapons—both for missile defense and to protect U.S. satellites and other spacecraft. The administration has argued that treaties would only constrain law-abiding countries and that there would be no way to stop hostile states from violating these agreements. By contrast, many foreign governments and administration critics have made the case that diplomatic measures may be much more effective than military means in protecting space, particularly in the increasingly crowded realm of low-Earth orbit (60 to 300 miles above the Earth). They argue that it would be best to establish binding treaties before threats to space assets emerge. A variety of issues are involved, including complex questions regarding the nature of space debris that weapons tests will generate, as well as uncertainties regarding commercial and political implications.
Issue Brief
Space is a realm currently used for scientific, commercial, and military purposes. Satellites make weather reporting possible, allow people to call and transmit data overseas instantaneously, and facilitate the flights of precision-guided munitions (of the type used in the Gulf War and in Afghanistan) to their targets with great accuracy. What worries the Bush administration and many military planners is what might happen if these assets themselves were to be threatened in some future war or by a rogue state or terrorist attempting to cripple the U.S. economy. While such threats today merely exist in theory, it would not be beyond the capability of almost two dozen countries to develop and deploy crude anti-satellite weapons that could be launched into space to attack U.S. assets. For example, a country might launch a small satellite packed with pebbles or nails and direct it into a high-speed collision with a critical U.S. satellite or spacecraft. Orbital objects travel at speeds of approximately 18,000 mph, meaning that such collisions would certainly be fatal. Critics note that such weapons do not yet exist, that their development and testing would be transparent and therefore possibly preventable, and that the United States has other military means to prevent their use. But there are other issues as well.
Continuation of Article
If the United States hopes to develop an effective national missile defense, it will need to rely on a variety of space-based sensors and tracking radars and possibly constellations of space-based lasers and kinetic kill satellite weapons. In wartime, these systems could create inviting targets for U.S. adversaries. For these reasons, the Bush administration wants to investigate its options and develop weapons capable of meeting these threats before they arise. Few analysts, however, have worked out the possible long-term implications of such deployments on the physical environment of space (particularly low-Earth orbit) or their political ramifications. Existing treaties governing space (see chart below) ban the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in orbit, ban nuclear testing in space, and forbid states from engaging in activities might threaten other parties without providing prior warning. They also require compensation for damage caused to spacecraft and call for all activities to be carried out for “peaceful purposes.” Nonetheless, there are gaps in these agreements and room for possible differences of interpretation of various clauses that may open the door to space weapons. In addition, there is the possibility that certain states may simply violate the treaties altogether, if push comes to shove.
Possible Types of Weapons
Space weapons under consideration today consist of several basic types. First, ground-, sea-, and air-based missile defense interceptors all use low-Earth orbital space as a location for the interception of ballistic missiles passing through space, usually at altitudes of a few hundred miles or less. The bulk of weapons in the current missile defense test program of the United States consist of this type of non-space-based interceptors. Second, space-based weapons are being considered for future development, testing, and deployment against ballistic missiles, but probably not until sometime after 2010 (due to technical obstacles). These systems include kinetic kill interceptors that would destroy missiles by collision alone and space-based lasers that would send high-powered beams at rising missiles in order to disable or destroy them. A third type of space weapon is anti-satellite systems, of which various designs are possible. Some might be direct-ascent missiles that would be launched into space and either collide directly with or detonate conventional explosives near their targets to destroy them. Others might be space-based systems that would be moved into companion orbits and exploded near target spacecraft. Although treaties currently prevent the testing of nuclear weapons in space, nuclear-tipped anti-satellite and anti-missile systems could be developed if the existing treaty regime were to collapse under political pressures caused by uncontrolled space weaponization. Despite U.S. leadership in space, the Bush administration has tasked the Defense Science Board with investigating possible low-yield nuclear weapons for missile defense purposes if existing kinetic kill systems fail to achieve their goals.
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Major Space-Related Arms Control Treaties*
Treaty: Limited Test Ban Treaty
Entry into Force (Yr.): 1963
Key Provisions: Bans nuclear weapons testing in space
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Treaty: Outer Space Treaty
Entry into force (Yr.): 1967
Key Provisions:
-Bans WMD in orbit
-Bans military installations on the Moon
-Bans claiming of territory in space or on celestial bodies
-Requires prior notification in case of planned harmful activities in space
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Treaty: Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) Treaty I
Entry into Force (Yr.): 1972 (U.S.- Soviet)
Key Provisions: - All ban interference with satellites engaged in treaty verification (similar provisions in each of these treaties)
Treaties re-introduced by different name?
*Same Key Provisions as the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) Treaty I*
-INF Treaty
Entry into Force (Yr.): 1987
-Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) I
Entry into Force (Yr.): 1994
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Treaty: Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Object
Entry into Force (Yr.): 1972
Key Provisions: Requires payment of compensations for damage caused by spacecraft
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Treaty: Convention on the Registration of Space Objects
Entry into Force (Yr.): 1976
Key Provisions: Requires international notification of the function and orbit of all space launches
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*This chart does not include the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (1972-2002), which terminated with the U.S. withdrawal in June 2002.
By BARBARA OPALL-ROME
DefenseNews.com
11 January 2005
HERZLIYA, Israel - Israel's top lawmaker for defense and security affairs has called for the development and deployment of space-based weapons as part of an integrated sea, air and space force designed to deliver decisive victory in future full-fledged conventional wars.
In a rare public discussion on Israel's military use of space, Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Israel's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, said the nation must compensate for its lack of strategic depth on land by expanding use of sea- and space-based attacks.
Specifically, Steinitz urged defense and industry officials to consider future developments of anti-satellite missiles, satellite-attacking lasers and ship-based missiles "that can strike the skies."
" In Israel, our strategic Achilles' heel is our miniscule geographical size," Steinitz told a Dec. 22 symposium sponsored by the Israeli Space Society and the Fisher Institute for Strategic Air and Space Studies. "This lack of ground territory - and our obligation to defend the homeland from attack - drives the need to develop a strategic envelope of air, sea and space forces not only for defense, but for attack."
In his lecture, "Space and Israel's National Security," Steinitz outlined four worldwide trends in the militarization of space:
• Use of satellites for intelligence and communications.
• Satellite-guided weaponry.
• Anti-satellite and satellite defense systems.
• Space-to-ground means of attack.
" We can draw many lessons from the evolution of air warfare," Steinitz said in an interview. "Just as the airplane evolved from an intelligence gathering platform to a self-protected precision attack system, so should the satellite - in the years ahead - be maximized for all kinds of missions."
Citing proposed space-based weaponry programs in the United States and elsewhere, Steinitz said Israel must not ignore trends and technologies that can extend the battlefield beyond the atmosphere.
Tal Inbar, vice president of the Israeli Space Society and research fellow at Israel's Fisher Institute of Strategic Air and Space Studies, said, "This is the first time an Israeli official publicly talked about the need for Israel to develop its own space warfare capabilities such as ASAT [anti-satellite], radiation weapons and so on."
And while Steinitz conceded that his exhortations for a militarized, tightly integrated sea, air and space force was merely "my personal vision, at this point," he said he would use his influential committee chairmanship to push for greater space-related funding. "What we're seeing today is just the beginning spark of a new kind of warfare that warrants a new kind of defense doctrine and organizational structure," Steinitz said.
" In the long term, it should be possible to consider segregating the [Israel Defense Forces] into two arms: the Ground Forces arm and the Envelope Forces, which I envision as a combined sea, air and space arm that ensures strategic depth for deterrence and defense," Steinitz said.
Israel's technological advantage over regional adversaries will allow it to determine where and how the next major war will be fought, he said.
" The other side faces a military handicap when compared to Israel, but it can use its borders to try - through primitive means like Scud missiles, long-range artillery and guerrilla tactics - to threaten Israeli territory. Israel cannot allow itself to forsake its ground forces, but it also cannot permit itself to be dragged into a land war. Therefore, it is beneficial to push the war into the air, sea and space."
In the event that Israeli air bases and critical military facilities come under enemy attack, Steinitz said Israel would have to rely on assets deployed at sea and in space.
" Sea and space assets don't require physical contact with the homeland, and so they are more efficient and survivable in the event of conventional war."
The committee chairman disparaged conventional wisdom that Israel no longer faces the threat of large conventional wars involving massive ground attacks.
Some Reservations
While Steinitz's call for Israel's exploitation of space resonated among many of the officials at the event, his belief that sea- and space-based assets would contribute as much or even more than airborne capabilities rang hollow among the air-power enthusiasts.
" I have serious reservations about the doctrine mapped out tonight," David Ivry, former commander of the Israel Air Force, said in response to Steinitz' presentation.
Ivry, a former director-general of Israel's MoD who administered a significant portion of Israel's military space program in the 1980s and 1990s, warned against over-reliance on satellites, given Israel's spotty track record in successfully inserting spacecraft into orbit.
Alluding for the first time that Israel suffered more than the two publicly known launch failures - one involving the Ofeq-4 in 1998 and the other last September with the failed Ofeq-6 launch - Ivry said, "We've had more satellites on the ground than in space. . The failures of satellites over time were too frequent, and it will be very difficult to build support for reliance on space."
More than 150 nations, including Russia, China, Canada and members of the European Union, are pressing for a permanent ban on weapons in space that goes well beyond the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which first codified "the peaceful use of outer space" and outlawed military bases or weapons of mass destruction in orbit. Annual attempts to update the treaty to include ASAT and other space-based weapons remain unsuccessful, largely due to opposition from the United States.
" Israel is one of the very few nations of the world that routinely abstains from voting for a resolution to ban weapons in space," noted Theresa Hitchens, vice president of the Washington-based Center for Defense Information, a public policy think tank.
" The assumption has always been that Israel did so to demonstrate political support for Washington ... But this news that serious people in Israel are seriously pushing for weaponizing space is highly disturbing, and shows that thinking in the United States is starting to corrupt the policies and doctrine of other space-faring nations," she said.
For example, a country might launch a small satellite packed with pebbles or nails and direct it into a high-speed collision with a critical U.S. satellite or spacecraft. Orbital objects travel at speeds of approximately 18,000 mph, meaning that such collisions would certainly be fatal. Critics note that such weapons do not yet exist, that their development and testing would be transparent and therefore possibly preventable, and that the United States has other military means to prevent their use. But there are other issues as well.
Originally posted by Decoy
reply to post by Kandinsky
Hah? IMO it's reasonable to accept the possibility that UFOs are just an unexplained natural phenomena."
Your obviously not totally researched on the UFOs in this world. Actually I'm I'm shocked yet fascinated at the balls of someone posting such nonsense here.
Decoy
Originally posted by Decoy
reply to post by Kandinsky
Hi all,
Totally researched means not totally disabled and debunking the reality of which many people have witnessed, photographed, filmed or video'd that are not military black projects.
My goodness Sir, you wrote stuff that's obviously showed colors of in-experience and lack of work in the study and research of EBEs and true UFOs.
I have no problem w/anyone going against the grain, but #--show you data along with the statement...
Decoy
Originally posted by Dinamo
when and IF we meet another predator it will be simple as us vs them so there's your answer