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Liller, Dwayne. "America Needs Space." High Frontier Journal. Vol. 2, No. 1 (September 2005): 34-37. [ 3 quotes ]
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History of Air Power Shows Other Countries will Quickly Develop Countermeasures to Space Weapons
The second lesson to remember from the development of air power is that countermeasures to any new technology are actively pursued by those nations threatened by the new technology. “Throughout the ages, it has been an iron law of weapons development for new concepts to be negated eventually by offsetting countermeasures.”11 The invention of radar by Great Britain to detect incoming German aircraft during WWII provides just one example. If space assets used for war are seen as threatening to a nation, that nation, or a coalition of similarly threatened nations, will seek to counter it. ( More ... )
Liller, Dwayne. "America Needs Space." High Frontier Journal. Vol. 2, No. 1 (September 2005): 34-37. [ 3 quotes ]
[ page 35 ]
Weapons in Space will be Viewed Provocatively by Other Countries
Intelligence gathering satellites are already in space and were an important asset through the Cold War and remain vital today. Nations have begrudgingly tolerated their existence because they could either do nothing about it or the information the satellites provided served to prevent a broader and devastating conflict. Opponents to weapons in space theorize that intelligence assets in space are 'stabilizing' due to the information they provide while weapons in space are 'overtly threatening and destabilizing.' Weapons in space do present the problem of directly threatening a nation, much as an armed aircraft does, but with little or no way to detect or prevent attack. ( More ... )
Liller, Dwayne. "America Needs Space." High Frontier Journal. Vol. 2, No. 1 (September 2005): 34-37. [ 3 quotes ]
[ page 35 ]
History of Air Power Shows Space Power Unlikely to be Decisive
Finally, we learn from air power that the application of force from any one medium may not be decisive on its own. Early air power advocates, like Douhet, believed that the airplane would be decisive in military conflict by itself. This invincible airplane would spread a helpless fear in adversaries and destroy their will to resist. This proclamation proved unfounded as Great Britain and others endured bombardment from the air during WWII and continued to resist. True, air power is an enormously important part of our military arsenal -- even more so now that true precision bombing has come of age -- but it cannot win or stop wars alone. The same will likely be true of space power. ( More ... )
Liller, Dwayne. "America Needs Space." High Frontier Journal. Vol. 2, No. 1 (September 2005): 34-37. [ 3 quotes ]
[ page 35 ]