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Evidence Related to this Citation

• Space Weapons will come at the Expense of Military Modernization
• Space Systems Lack Element of Survivability and are Unlikely to be Relied on in Crisis
• U.S. Research into Space Weapons will be Copied and Improved on by Competitors
• Space Assets are a Center of Gravity only because they are Centralized -- Decentralizing Resources would reduce need for Space Weapons

Space Weapons will come at the Expense of Military Modernization

 

There are significant long-term-opportunity costs within the military, particularly in these times of diminishing DOD budgets. One can meet the same requirements with cheaper alternatives, such as combat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Weaponizing space will necessarily come at the expense of satisfying documented military deficiencies (strategic-lift deficiencies and the C-17, air-superiority deficiencies and the F-22 or joint strike fighter, forward-basing deficiencies and carriers, ISR deficiencies and the next generation of ISR satellites, etc.)

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Deblois, Bruce M. "Space Sanctuary: A Viable National Strategy." Air & Space Power Journal. XII, No. 4 (Winter 1998). [ 4 quotes ] [ page 50 ]

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Space Systems Lack Element of Survivability and are Unlikely to be Relied on in Crisis

 

Space systems will not survive if they are targeted. Military systems in space, like all others, follow well-established, fixed orbits (orbital transfers are energy- and cost-prohibitive). This leaves space systems exposed and vulnerable. As predominantly unmanned systems, they also require data link to a controller, leaving them vulnerable to interference in the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. ( More ... )

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Deblois, Bruce M. "Space Sanctuary: A Viable National Strategy." Air & Space Power Journal. XII, No. 4 (Winter 1998). [ 4 quotes ] [ page 50 ]

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U.S. Research into Space Weapons will be Copied and Improved on by Competitors

 

Even in the absence of a technological breakthrough, Americans have a pattern of fronting the costs of research and development only to find other nations taking our technology and using it to our disadvantage (for example, US development of microelectronics in the 1960s and subsequent Japanese exploitation of that development). Parasitic behavior of corporations and nations in regard to technological advance is well documented, offering upstarts the "advantage of backwardness." Following this pattern, US investments in the research and development of space weapons could lead to the demise of US international prowess. ( More ... )

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Deblois, Bruce M. "Space Sanctuary: A Viable National Strategy." Air & Space Power Journal. XII, No. 4 (Winter 1998). [ 4 quotes ] [ page 50 ]

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Space Assets are a Center of Gravity only because they are Centralized -- Decentralizing Resources would reduce need for Space Weapons

 

Strategists must recognize that space communication, surveillance, reconnaissance, and navigation systems are not COGs because they are in space; they are COGs because they are centralized communication, surveillance, reconnaissance, and navigation systems. Options exist, however, to share these missions with other terrestrial systems and pursue a widely distributed space architecture. This decentralization would not only reduce American vulnerability in space, but might do so without degradation of mission performance. Significantly, as the vulnerability is reduced the case for space weapons weakens. Protection is accomplished through decentralization and diversification rather than through active defenses.

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Deblois, Bruce M. "Space Sanctuary: A Viable National Strategy." Air & Space Power Journal. XII, No. 4 (Winter 1998). [ 4 quotes ] [ page 38 ]

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