"Naval Analogy" Fails because Threat to Nations from Space Weapons is Greater than Threat to Nations from Naval Ships in the 19th Century
These are dubious analogies. Several significant differences exist between freedom of the seas and the military use of space. First, the implicit threat from military activities at sea at the time the traditional law of the sea was laid down is nothing like the potential threat from space if space were to become weaponized. The freedom of the seas concept evolved in the era of 19th century battleships when the difference between the territorial sea and the high seas was real. Warships on the high seas were out of range of land and were thus unable to threaten coastal states unless they came in close. Today's modern nuclear and cruise-missile armed ships and submarines are an anomaly in this regard. They eliminate any protection the territorial seas once provided, leaving all states vulnerable to attack from the high seas.
This is clearly an unsatisfying situation for many coastal states, and helps account for the numerous unilateral claims of sovereignty by coastal states over waterways that border their territory, presumably in violation of traditional free navigation norms. This vulnerability would be exacerbated in space, where factors of speed, the vulnerability of space activities to disruptions with consequent effects on earth, and the perceived close link between military activity on earth and military activity in space would enhance the risk posed to others. Here is it useful to distinguish between the physical effects of space weapons and their geostrategic impact. From the perspective of their physical effects, in most cases, space-based weapons increase present threats rather than replace them by much greater threats. Space-launched missiles move hardly any faster and reach no farther than submarine-launched missiles. Space-borne weapons are much more vulnerable than land-based weapons. And inland nations are not really safer from attack from the oceans than attack from space.
Tannenwald, Nina. Law Versus Power on the High Frontier: The Case for a Rule-Based Regime for Outer Space. : , Summer 2004. [ 7 quotes ]
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