Thus far, the full-scale deployment of weapons with an operational capacity beyond the earth’s atmosphere has not yet materialized. In addition to space militarization, however, many experts are concerned about the actual weaponization of space. Consequently, space is becoming increasingly ‘militarized’ in the sense that it is playing a progressively more active role as a component of national armed forces. Space is also used to assess weather patterns and for providing early warning capabilities against enemy missile and air attacks. Satellites, for example, are being utilized for a variety of military purposes, including battlefield surveillance through identifying enemy positions and relaying relevant information to friendly task forces.
Space is becoming an increasingly important dimension for international security, evidenced by the growing number of military applications that require its use in order to function. President Reagan announces the “Star Wars” concept (more properly, the Strategic Defense Initiative) to the world, from the Oval Office 23rd March, 1983.Īlthough the space militarization status quo has not been significantly altered in many years, this is not to say that space neutrality will remain the norm for the foreseeable future. Since the collapse of the USSR, however, a large number of powerful countries have been developing the offensive capacity of their militaries with space-warfare in mind. In order to reduce hostilities between the two rival superpowers, the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty was signed and both countries forfeited the capacity to defend against one another’s nuclear missiles. It was calculated that offensive capabilities possessed an inherent advantage over defensive capabilities, and that the construction of the SDI would initiate an arms race between the US and USSR. Due to several difficulties, however, the plan was eventually withdrawn. The SDI was to be a comprehensive anti-missile defense shield that would effectively immunize the US from Soviet nuclear missiles in a fashion similar to that of the Israeli ‘Iron Dome’. Years later, US President Ronald Reagan announced the creation of the controversial Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), popularly referred to as “Star Wars”. The dawn of the colloquial “space age” can be said to have emerged during the Cold War when the Soviet Union and the United States competed to put a man on the moon. Nevertheless, although the majority of space-age technologies are being designed for scientific and exploratory purposes, there can be no doubt that their advancement will be accompanied by far more insidious applications. Recent developments, including the launching of the Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’ stand as ample testament to this fact. Since the launching of the first satellites, humanity’s capacity to operate in outer space has grown exponentially. Despite the current impracticality of advanced space-warfare, however, the exponential development of aeronautics technology has granted the concept a greater degree of legitimacy. For decades, the notion of futuristic military confrontations between space-faring powers has been an exceedingly popular motif in a great number of science fiction novels.
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