U.S. security is threatened by foreign imaging, surveillance, and reconnaissance satellites.
Keywords: Commerical High-Resolution Satellite Imagery.
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Attacking a commercially owned satellite, even one which is partially leased to or providing information to a belligerent's military, would be broadly equivalent to attacking neutral shipping in wartime. A conflict in which this became a regular practice would be comparable to the unrestricted submarine warfare of the world wars. (It also would represent a practical inconvenience for the United States given the reliance of its economy and military on commercial services.) The number of such services available may offer such redundancy as to make it impossible to totally deny a sophisticated enemy access, even after it has executed its initial strike. ( More ... ) Elhefnawy, Nader. "Four Myths About Space Power." Parameters. (Spring 2003): 124-32. [ 6 quotes ] [ page 124-5 ]
The 1991 Persian Gulf War provided the first evidence of the growing danger commercial earth-imaging satellite systems posed to United States military operations. For the first time in history, military commanders recognized commercially available satellite images could deny their forces the element of surprise because images had become sharp enough to detect force deployments and movements. Since 1995 more than sixteen countries and multi-national consortia have put commercial satellite-imagery systems into service, half with image-quality better than eight meters, further raising the threat posed to American and allied forces. Latchford, Stephen. Strategies for Defeating Commercial Imagery Systems. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: USAF Center for Strategy and Technology, December 2005. [ 9 quotes ] [ page 1 ]