Nexus - 1804 - New Times Magazine-pages

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AMERICA'S EMERGING SPACE WEAPONS ARSENAL AMERICA'S EMERGING ARSENAL SPACE WEAPONS Barack Obama declared he would not weaponise space, but under pressure from missile defence contractors his administration has raised the budget, ensuring that "dual use" weaponry will continue to be developed for the US military. Part 2 of 2 s mentioned in part one, the US military contends that in no way, shape or form is it developing space weapons. But what was so blatant at the beginning of the George W. Bush era was the call for commencing the era of space combat. The US Air Force Transformation Flight Plan, published in 2003, "assert{ed] more firmly than ever that [the Air Force] intends to weaponize space". Indeed, all sorts of high-profile US military officers and their commission studies were pushing space weapons during the early days of the Bush administration. In 2003, Lt Gen. Edward Anderson, who at the time was head of the US Northern Command, said tha’ in his view “it will not be long before space becomes a battleground".” Others weren't willing to wait another second. "The time to weaponize and administer space for the good of global commerce is now, when the United States could do so without fear of an arms race there," said Everett Dolman, Associate Professor of Comparative Military Studies at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, during a 2004 interview with Space.com. "Space weaponization can work. It will be very expensive. But...the state tha weaponizes first—and establishes itself at the top of the Earth's gravity well, garnering all the many advantages that the high ground has always provided in war—will find the benefits worth the costs."'* Dolman also made this statement in his book Astropolitik: "Who controls low-Earth orbit controls near-Earth space. Who controls near-Earth space dominates Terra. Who dominates Terra determines the destiny of humankind.""” Even at the end of the Bush years, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) was still pushing for weapons in space. A constellation of killer satellites would “add another defense layer", said MDA's leader Air Force Lt Gen. Henry Obering in 2008." During the Bush administration, the Pentagon once even planned for a constellation of 50 to 100 killer satellites to begin production in 2016. If such a plan were ever approved by Congress, it would mean billions for Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Full Spectrum Dominance in space is still being championed by many actions in the Air Force and the Pentagon but not by everyone, said Theresa Hitchens of the Center for Defense Information (CDI). Yet because China has claimed it's developing anti-satellite capabilities and then shot down its own satellite in 2007, "these Space Hawks are emboldened now", said Hitchens.” But the outcome of their space desires is nowhere close to being decided because there are some factions within the Air Force and the Pentagon that are against space domination, she said. "There is a debate ongoing about the wisdom, the affordability and the do- ability about implementing a full-up space-war fighting strategy,” Hitchens said.” The cost to create, launch and maintain a Full Spectrum Dominance program in space would run into the hundreds of billions of dollars, she said. First you would have to build hundreds of killer satellites; then you would have to launch them, which is also an incredibly expensive endeavour. Based on chapter three of his 2010 book Technoir JUNE - JULY 2011 NEXUS ° II by John Lasker © 2010-2011 Email: johnlasker@sbcglobal.net www.nexusmagazine.com