Global Perspectives on Space Militarization

The documented history shows that humans all the time had tried to voyage into space. It was not until the second half of the twentieth century that this vision was finally achieved. The skill to enter into space today is the outcome of hard work by a series of scientists, thinkers, and leaders. Today, the satellite systems provide vital support in the areas of photographic reconnaissance, communication, surveillance, target acquisition, weather information, navigation, and early warning. The satellites were launched in the outer space; however, their integration into the military has been much accelerated in the last three decades. 

After the advent of nuclear weapons, the world saw an intense rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, which had divided the world into two poles. The two adversaries tried their level best to attain nuclear superiority over each other, and in this regard, they developed delivery systems for the nuclear attacks. The United States in the 1950s had developed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and the Soviets followed the suit, and developed their own ICBMs. The chief ambition behind the development of ICBMs was to launch a successful strike with much higher accuracy and precision. In addition, after the induction of ‘first generation’ ICBMs by the Soviet and the U.S. militaries, the fear of ‘surprise attack’ on the both sides became problematic for both the militaries.

With the advancement in the associated technologies relating to the space exploration had resulted in the start of an intense space race between the two strategic competitors. The launch of Sputnik-1 in 1957 had prompted the Eisenhower administrator to speed up their space exploration activities. Consequently, the first successful launch came after several failed attempts. After that, both countries invested a huge amount of money in building up their space assets, which also include their military satellites. The two superpowers launched thousands of satellites with military payloads into space. Subsequently, the study of the end of the Cold War suggested the increased efforts by the United States to exploit the outer space for the military purposes. From the historical perspective, the number of space launches by the Soviet is more than the U.S space launch; however, today the U.S has emerged as an indisputable space power due to its technological advancement in the field of space exploration.

China on the other side has much improved its space program. Although, China did lack the space expertise, and its satellite systems were not at an advance level before the 1980s. However, China continues to make progress in this field, and now it is the one of the emerging nation around the world in the space technologies, having dedicated satellite systems with all the military as well as for commercial features. Today, China has its own navigation system, and is also planning to develop its worldwide navigation system in 2020. Similarly, China has increased its international space cooperation with many countries around the world, including Pakistan. In fact, the recent PAKSAT-1R launch on August 5, 2012, a communication satellite is  a significant step towards the progress of Pakistan space cooperation with China. On the other hand, China also has concerns about the deployment of weapons in space by the U.S in the future. In this regard, China has tested its ASAT in 2007, which had hit one of its defunct satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), creating a huge amount of hazardous debris in the outer space. This test has raised many eye borrows in India as well as in the U.S.

Pakistan's first Communications Satellite PAKSAT-1R launched - August 11, 2011

India has accelerated its efforts to develop its space program to explore the outer space for both military and commercial purposes. The Indian efforts to attain Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) capability, and its labours to achieve ABM system has shown its interest to explore the outer space for such system, which could help towards the establishment of its offensive missile system. Furthermore, it is a fact that ASAT is the spin-off of ICBMs; therefore, the recent launch of Agni-V has an operational range of 8000km, it can be included in the family of ICBMs. In the next step, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is planning to build an earth-based anti-satellite weapons. Interestingly, the DRDO chief pointed out that the successful launch of Agni-V has “opened new era” of missile defence. He went further and stated that “building ASAT and launching micro-mini satellites” would be “on demand.”

Pakistan has also launched its first communication satellite (Badr-1) in the outer space on July 16, 1990 from Xichang Launch Center, in cooperation with China. The Indian ambition to strengthen its BMD and ABM system has serious implications for the security of Pakistan. The Indian attempts to contain China in the outer space could disturb the strategic stability in South Asia. In 2011, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) boosted up its efforts in space exploration, and announced its “Vision 2040” of space. The Space Vision was announced, because of rising future needs of Pakistan in the area of communication and remote sensing. The growing demand of indigenous satellite system for communication has on its peak; therefore, the proposed plan is made to cover the demand, develop new satellites in future. 

The U.S. dependence on its space assets (satellite system) has increased since the end of the Cold War, in terms of its military and commercial purposes. This has raised many concerns in the U.S regarding the survivability and vulnerability of their space assets. Similarly, the many countries around the world are cooperating with each other in the field of space science. Therefore, doubts have been created regarding the ‘dual use’ of the technology. Space militarization has already been taking place, and in the next step, nations may build up and deploy space weapons in the outer space with good objectives of peace through strength deterrence will result towards the use of these weapons. In theory, this mechanization would augment survivability of vulnerable space weapon platforms. However, by taking the assessment to consign aggression out of human hands and awarding computers with the ability to construct war, military planners could implant sinister germ of inadvertent divergence.      

Ahmad Khan is working as a Researcher at Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS). He is also pursuing his Ph.D in Department of Strategic Studies at National Defence University, Islamabad. His areas of research are Nuclear Security, Regional Strategic and Security issues, Space Security and Terrorism.