Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Defense released its 2019 Missile Defense Review. In it are references to China and Russia developing anti-satellite capabilities.
This U.S. concern — that Russia and China are getting ahead in the mastery of space — has shown up elsewhere too, most noticeably with U.S. President Donald Trump’s pursuit of a “Space Force”. “When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space, we must have American dominance in space... I am hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces,” Mr. Trump said in June.
Over the last few years, the talk of a Space Force has generated some excitement, some scepticism and a dose of drama, with Netflix commissioning a series, Space Force .
This isn’t the first time America has sought martial capabilities in space. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan, a former Hollywood actor, outlined the U.S.’ Strategic Defense Initiative, which reversed three decades of a strategy based on a nuclear deterrence and Mutually Assured Destruction. Reagan ordered the development of space-based defensive weaponry that could take down ballistic missiles from the Soviet Union and other adversaries. His programme was called ‘Star Wars’ by critics, while those who supported it say the initiative helped end the Cold War.
Dominance over space
Reagan’s idea did not take off, partly due to technological constraints, but America has been itching to assert its dominance over space. In 2002, the U.S., under President George W. Bush, withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, saying deterrence cannot be based “solely on the threat of retaliation”.
Again, in 2008 and 2014, attempts by Russia and China to introduce a treaty-based ban on weapons were not supported by the U.S. In 2007, China had shot down its own weather satellite Fengyun-1C, 865 km above the earth. Fears had grown in the U.S. that Russia and China were quietly developing anti-satellite machinery and that American satellite systems — used to guide aircraft, ships, make Battle Damage Assessments, provide GPS in war zones and collect intelligence — were at stake.
Fast forward to 2017 when some from both sides of the aisle in Congress supported the idea of a greater U.S. presence in space, while others showed ambivalence or resistance. In 2017, Mike Rogers (Republican) and Tim Cooper (Democrat) proposed a Space Corps that would be part of the Air Force.
This idea didn’t pass muster with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who argued against designated Space Crops because of the extra administrative burden it would carry. Pentagon officials were of the view that the Air Force was enough to protect military satellites.
Last summer, Mr. Trump approved a congressional Bill that asked the Department of Defense to prepare a space-war fighting policy, an idea that may not go very far with a new Congress, according to Marina Koren, writing in The Atlantic .
Representative Adam Smith, the Democrat who chairs the Armed Forces Committee of the House, does not support Mr. Trump’s idea of a Space Force. Mr. Smith had said in a statement in November the idea was too expensive and not the right way to advance U.S. national security, especially with competing funding requirements for defence and domestic priorities.
For now, it looks like the only Space Force Mr. Trump will see is the one on Netflix.
Sriram Lakshman works for The Hindu and is based in Washington DC.
