The US has confirmed that it has deployed space weapons in Earth’s orbit.
The stationing of space weapons will spark an international arms race in space. Russia, China and possibly India, are very likely to adopt similar systems – if they have not done so already.
Such weapons could be kinetic (hit-to-kill missiles) or non-kinetic (including lasers to temporarily ‘blind’ satellites and jammers that can disable communications between satellites and on the ground) and employed for offensive and defensive purposes.
A major concern is that, if an early warning satellite were to be disabled by a technical problem or impact with a meteorite, it may be interpreted as a strike by an anti-satellite weapon and could initiate a nuclear war.
This announcement could be an indication that the US is preparing to site interceptor missiles in Earth’s orbit as part of Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ project. The Golden Dome – or Missile Defence System – is designed to enable the US to launch a nuclear attack without fear of retaliation. This is a key driver to the new nuclear arms race.
The development of the Golden Dome will include the involvement of US bases in Britain such as Fylingdales, Menwith Hill and the DARC (Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability) proposed for Pembrokeshire.
In April, the US Space Force awarded BAE Systems $11.8 million to demonstrate satellite-to-satellite communications for the Golden Dome.
The US announcement was followed by the publication of the government’s updated UK Space Strategy which states that Britain will continue to cooperate with the US across the space domain, assisting the US Space Command’s aim to ‘dominate space’ through ‘full spectrum dominance’. The government plans to spend £7.8 billion on space until 2030. Such attempts to dominate space breach the 1967 Outer Space Treaty which states that ‘the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind.’
The US spends about $80 billion a year on global space developments, four times more than China at about $19 billion per year, while Russia plans to spend an average of $6 billion for the next 10 years whilst Britain has committed £1.3 billion annually on space over the next six years.
Rather than stationing weapons in space the US and Britain should seriously participate in international talks to prevent an arms race in space, demilitarise the space domain and work towards cooperation and sharing rather than duplicating space resources for the good of all, rather than to profit the few.
-TEXT SUPPLIED BY NATIONAL CND
