View Citation

Evidence Related to this Citation

U.S. should use space weapons as a bargaining chip

 

Given the lack of U.S. enthusiasm to develop space weapons, some ask why not sign a treaty to halt a space arms race before it starts? That's a legitimate question, but it's also one with a good answer. I am among those who believe that the threat of space weapons--particularly space-based missile defenses--played an important role in ending the Cold War. If the very threat of space weapons could yield such leverage against a peer competitor, what could someone offer the United States now that's worth giving up that potentially powerful position for all time? ( More ... )

---

Worden, Simon P. "High Anxiety." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Vol. 62, No. 2 (March/April 2006): 21-23. [ 2 quotes ]

---

Ban on Space Weapons could Block Peaceful Dual-Use Technologies

 

The spread of dual-use technology is another reason to go slow on comprehensive bans. For example, Germany, in concert with Russia, has a program called TECSAS that is designed to rendezvous with an uncooperative satellite and repair it. It's a simple task to "unrepair" such target satellites as well. If, treaty-bound, the United States was prevented from fielding similar technology, it may face a future where it loses space superiority not because of enemy space weapons, but simply because it didn't deploy the necessary basic space capabilities that others have. ( More ... )

---

Worden, Simon P. "High Anxiety." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Vol. 62, No. 2 (March/April 2006): 21-23. [ 2 quotes ]

---