Fueled by the revolution in military affairs, the military doctrine of a growing number of states, led by China, Russia, the US, and key EU members, is increasingly emphasizing the use of military space systems to support terrestrial military operations. Dependence on space systems has led several of these states to view space assets as national security critical infrastructure. US military space doctrine has also begun to focus on the need to ensure US freedom of action in space, while preventing adversaries from accessing and using space when necessary. Several states continued to place a greater emphasis on military space applications in 2004. The EU, France, Japan, and Russia articulated new policies designed to increase the uses of space for national security purposes. The US Air Force (USAF) released a doctrine document that outlined in greater detail the practice of 'counterspace operations.' To the extent that the USAF vision of counterspace doctrine is accepted by the US Government, this represents a significant departure from the broadly accepted international legal norm that space should be preserved as an environment that is open to all and belonging to none.

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Cowan-Sharp, Jessy, Robert Lawson et al. Space Security Index 2004. Waterloo, Ontario: Space Security Index, June 2005. [ 13 quotes ] [ page X ]