By 
July 5th, 2016
Cover photo: Sunrise over the Western U.S., taken by astronaut Scott Kelly on the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA
A new study has recommended augmenting the U.S. strategic posture by “enabling the use of space for the defense of the United States across military domains.”
Specifically, the appraisal — Space and the Right to Self Defense — urges that the United States immediately begin the necessary steps to deploy a space-based interceptor (SBI) capability.
Optimal vantage point
Credit: Missile Defense Agency
“An SBI capability would dramatically augment U.S. terrestrially- and sea-based defensive capabilities, reduce the demands upon current systems, and provide the United States with the optimal vantage point for destroying enemy missiles regardless of their launch or target location, whether on land, at sea, in the air, or in space,” the June 2016 report by the Hudson Institute explains.
A critical benefit of an SBI layer, adds the report, “is the ability to destroy many missiles during their boost phase, while the missile is still over enemy territory and before the enemy can deploy their nuclear warheads, countermeasures, and decoys.”
Pivotal moment
“We have long since passed the threshold of concern that space will one day become the next battlefield, and we are at a pivotal moment,” the document adds. “The United States of America will not maintain its pre-eminent global power status by default nor absent further action. We must choose this path, and if chosen, we must better utilize the space domain to nullify any adversary’s ability to coerce and blackmail the United States with missiles, possibly armed with nuclear weapons.”
Vulnerability of space assets
Among the study’s findings:
- U.S. adversaries are investing in missile technologies to contest U.S. military pre-eminence and challenge U.S. technical superiority.
- Due to the vulnerability of, and the U.S. reliance on, space assets, adversaries have sought to target those assets with a variety of weapons including direct-ascent anti-satellite missiles.
- A space-based interceptor (SBI) capability is essential to augment U.S. terrestrially and sea-based capabilities, and keep pace with the threats we face.
- No treaty or international conventions or norms prohibits the deployment of an SBI capability.
- Continue investments in directed energy technology to one-day aid or replace space-based kinetic interceptors.
Artist’s view of the Missile Defense Agency’s Space Tracking and Surveillance System-Demonstrator (STSS-D) spacecraft tracking objects in space.
According to Raytheon, developer of the sensor payloads onboard the spacecraft, they have demonstrated the ability to:
— Detect missile launches and track targets from boost phase into midcourse
— Acquire and track short range air-launched targets
— Track multiple targets simultaneously
— Communicate with missile defense command and control systems
— Provide “launch on remote” cueing information to U.S. Navy ship defenses before the ship itself acquired the target
Photo credit: Northrop Grumman Corporation
Challenge conventional thinking
Space and the Right to Self Defense, issued by the Hudson Institute, is authored by Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, the report’s study director and a Fellow at the Hudson Institute. She provides research and commentary on a range of national security issues, and specializes in nuclear deterrence, missile defense, and counter-proliferation.
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, the report’s study director and a Fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Credit: Hudson Institute
The Hudson Institute is a research organization promoting American leadership and global engagement for a secure, free, and prosperous future. It was founded in 1961 by strategist Herman Kahn, dedicated to challenging conventional thinking and helps manage strategic transitions to the future through interdisciplinary studies in defense, international relations, economics, health care, technology, culture, and law.
To read the full report, Space and the Right to Self Defense, go to:
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