Militarisation and Weaponisation Of Space

WHY IN NEWS?

• China’s move to weaponise space domain is bringing newer threats, says India Air Force Chief.

BACKGROUND:

• The initial space exploration in the mid-20th century had, partly, a military motive, as the US and the USSR used it as an opportunity to demonstrate missile technology and other technologies having military application potential.
• Outer space has since then been utilised by armies the world over for communications, surveillance, position and timing information, early warning, signal intelligence and meteorological information
• Application of space militarisation currently in use is military satellites, Global Positioning System, military doctrine of network-centric warfare, some ballistic missiles passing through outer space during their flight etc.
• Currently, over fifty nations own or operate the nearly two-thousand functional satellites in orbit. Of these 2,000 satellites, more than three hundred are dedicated military satellites.
  • U.S. has the biggest share here, with nearly 140, followed by Russia and China
  • India has two dedicated satellites, one each for the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force

INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO CONTROL SPACE MILITARIZATION:

• Outer Space Treaty, 1967:
  • The Outer Space Treaty prohibits only weapons of mass destruction in outer space, not ordinary weapons.
  • It includes the following principles:
    • The exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;
    • Outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;
    • Outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;
    • States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner;
    • The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes;
    • Astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind;
    • States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental activities;
    • States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and
    • States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.
• Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963:
  • It prohibits nuclear tests and any other nuclear explosions in the atmosphere or outer space
• Astronauts Rescue Agreement of 1968:
  • It requires the safe return of astronauts and objects launched into space to their country of origin;
• Liability Convention of 1972:
  • It establish procedures for determining the liability of a state that damages or destroys space objects of another state;
• Registration Convention of 1976:
  • It requires the registration of objects launched into space
• Moon Agreement of 1984:
  • It took the first steps to establish a regime for exploiting the natural resources of space.

RECENT TRENDS IN SPACE MILITARIZATION:

• USA’s Space Force:
  • US transformed its Air Force Space Command into the U.S. Space Force, dedicated military branch to help protect the interests of the USA in space, deter aggression etc
• France released its first French Space Defence Strategy in 2019:
  • It elevated French military space organization and reassigned control of French military satellites from the French space agency to the military.
• Iran:
  • Recently announced that it has successfully launched a military reconnaissance satellite, called Noor (Light).
• Rendezvous and proximity operations (RPOs) conducted by U.S.A, China and Russia.
  • RPOs are generally conducted for civil/ commercial purposes such as servicing, repair and refueling and inspection of satellites.
  • But countries with satellites near such operations grow highly suspicious, due to potential use of satellites as surveillance devices or weapons.
• Anti-satellite missile test:
  • China conducted an anti-satellite missile test in 2007, followed by India in 2019. United States and Russia already possess anti-satellite weapon

INDIA’S SPACE SECURITY CAPABILITIES:

• Mission SHAKTI:
  • In 2019, India tested an anti-satellite weapon during an operation code named Mission Shakti. The target of the test was a satellite present in a low Earth orbit, which was hit with a kinetic kill vehicle.
  • The test made India the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to have tested an ASAT weapon.
  • The test was done to verify that India has the capability to safeguard our space assets
• Defence Space Agency (DSA)
  • DSA was established to command the space assets of the Army, Navy and Air Force, including the military’s anti-satellite capability
• Defence Space Research Organisation (DSRO)
  • DSRO was also created to provide technical and research support to Defence Space Agency (DSA)
• IndSpaceEx (simulated space warfare exercise)
  • It was conducted in 2019 to identify key challenges and shortfalls if a conflict escalates in space dimension.
• Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) or NavIC:
  • Along with ‘standard positioning service’ for civilian use, NavIC will also provide a ‘restricted service’ (an encrypted one) for authorised users (including the military).
  • Missile targeting could be an important military application for the constellation.
  • The system was developed partly because access to foreign government-controlled global navigation satellite systems is not guaranteed in hostile situations, as happened to the Indian military in 1999 when United States denied the Indian request for Global Positioning System (GPS) data for the Kargil region which would have provided vital information
• EMISAT:
  • It is an Indian reconnaissance satellite under Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) project Kautilya launched in April 2019
  • It is a package that provides space-based electronic signal intelligence or ELINT.
  • The spacecraft helps in improving the situational awareness of the Indian Armed Forces as it will provide information and location of enemy radars

INDIA’S POLICY ON MILITARIZATION OF SPACE OR SPACE SECURITY:

• India, with a strong conviction on the vast potential of the use of outer space for peaceful uses, has been demonstrating it through various space based applications and services for national and societal purposes.
• India has been actively participating in the formulation of various international treaties on space law in Committees of United Nations.
• India has been using the space systems for national security purposes, as most other nations are also doing, since such uses are per se not prevented by the UN treaties on space law
• However, India strongly oppose to any attempt to place weapons in space or conducting any unconventional weapons tests in space, as it would pose a perennial threat to all space systems regardless of their use for civilian or military purposes.
• India has repeatedly sought a ban on space weapons at the UN and other international forum such as the Conference on Disarmament (CD).
• India implements many Transparency and Confidence Building Measures (TCBMs)
  • Registering space objects with the United Nations (UN) register and  pre-launch notifications
  • Participation in Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination (IADC) activities concerning space debris management
  • Undertaking SOPA (Space Object Proximity Awareness and COLA (Collision Avoidance).

REASON FOR INCREASING TREND OF MILITARIZATION:

• Lack of a comprehensive international treaty:
  • No comprehensive international treaty about space weapons is in effect
  • Existing treaties such as Outer Space Treaty does not ban military activities
• Threats to space assets:
  • Satellites and space assets are expensive and technologically very complex systems that are very susceptible to variety of threats.
  • The functioning of the system can be easily obstructed and interfered with.
  • These drawbacks have always existed but certain countries have relied heavily on these assets for conduct of operations.
  • This makes these countries take aggressive measures to protect their space assets.
  • Some of the threats to space systems are:
    • Electronic warfare such as jamming communications, and command and control systems/links and cybernetic attack on space systems.
    • Physical attacks on satellite ground stations.
    • Hit-to-kill anti-satellite weapons.
• Increased space economics:
  • There is a strong interconnect between space weaponisation and space-dependent commerce.
  • Increased spending on space assets will automatically increases the need to secure those assets
• No global regulatory regime:
  • There is no global regulatory regime to address the growing militarisation in space which compel countries including India to develop deterrence for the security of its space-based assets
• Vision of super powers to establish domination and superiority over space:
  • The missile defence programme of the countries and the quest of some nations like the US, USSR, and China; to control space may be the main drivers behind the drive to develop space weapons

CONCERNS ASSOCIATED WITH SPACE MILITARIZATION:

• Space debris:
  • Space junk, or space debris, is any piece of machinery or debris left by humans in space.
  • It can refer to big objects such as dead satellites that have failed or been left in orbit at the end of their mission.
  • The uncontrolled activities in the space such as creation of large space structures in the eighties, flight testing of ASATs weapons etc has significantly contributed to space debris
• Space treaties does not include private players:
  • Currently, the influence of private enterprises in the space sector is increasing exponentially.
  • Most of the international space treaties include only countries and not private individuals.
• The vulnerability of space assets:
  • In the past two-three decades there has been increasing the use of space both for the civilian and military purposes.
  • However, these assets remain vulnerable because of the emergence of Anti-Satellite Weapons.
• Space weaponisation will have adverse effect on space commerce:
  • Space commerce requires peace environment to grow
  • Space weaponisation would put at risk the entire range of commercial satellites as well as those involved in scientific explorations.
  • A major problem is that a country that deploys a military satellite is reluctant to disclose its orbital slot and radio frequency (as the peaceful scientific and commercial operations in space rely on radio frequencies and orbital path, particularly in the geosynchronous orbit.), fearing that such information could be used by an adversary.
  • Since the vulnerabilities of commercial satellites are very great and the costs of protective measures are open-ended, cost-benefit calculations of commercial investments in space would become more problematic.
• Fear of War:
  • The ensuing arms race for weaponisation of outer space would create an environment of uncertainty, suspicion, miscalculations, competition and aggressive deployment between nations, which may lead to war.
• The risk of a Space Pearl Harbour: 
  • Satellites of each of the countries such as Russia, the U.S., and China have been caught loitering in orbit at different times, and the victims have cried foul. 
  • Every nation’s satellites face increasing threat and the risk of a space Pearl Harbour is growing every day
• Monopoly of Orbit:
  • Countries, particularly developed ones like the United States, may reserve an orbital slot and may not use it for several years, thus, monopolizing the diminishing number of orbital slots.
  • These actions have rightly become a source of international tension.
• No provisions to counter space terrorism:
  • The current terrorist operations have shown that the terror groups are constantly evolving and are using all the modern means available to achieve their objectives
  • With the increasing role of private players in the space sector, space is vulnerable to being used by terrorists.

SUGGESTIONS:

• Need of Legal framework:
  • There is a clear need for a legally binding instrument under UN frame work to prevent an arms race and fill existing legal gaps. Such a treaty must include provisions to:
    • Minimise debris.
    • Refrain from flight-testing or deploying space weapons
    • Avoid or announce in advance dangerous manoeuvres in space
    • Create special caution areas around satellites.
    • Refrain from simulating attacks in space.
    • Refrain from using lasers to disrupt or blind satellites.
    • Cooperate on space traffic management
• Awareness about Space situation:
  • In order to increase situational awareness of space objects already in space, as well as their purposes, states should submit valid information to international institutions which can then organize the data and provide open-source information to all about the situation in space.
• Universal access of technology:
  • Legitimate access for all States to outer space and the provision of training, the transfer of technology and cooperation among nations, without discrimination should be promoted.
• Promoting Transparency:
  • Transparency and confidence?building measures can help maintain space security by complementing a negotiated international legal instrument on outer space arms control.

CONCLUSION

• Outer space is a common heritage and asset owned equally by every human being.
• World wants transparency, technology sharing and global cooperation in space.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. How India can effectively manage the security dilemmas that may arise due to weaponisation of space?