Weapons in Space

"Weapons in Space"," Since the V-2 was the first weapon in the history of warfare to leave the Earth's atmosphere, that day marks the point when man weaponized space.
 Actually, the opposite is true.
 This is why the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty between the U.S
 and Soviet Union, which barred effective missile defense systems, contained an article banning even the development and testing, not just the deployment, of space-based ballistic missile defense systems.
 In the late 1970s, Senator Malcolm Wallop (R-WY) argued in favor of developing and fielding a constellation of space-based lasers to counter ballistic missiles in flight.
 In fact, the High Frontier study was as much about using space to further U.
 values and interests more generally as it was about missile defense in particular.
 GPALS envisioned a constellation of individual kinetic energy interceptor satellites called Brilliant Pebbles as the core component of a broader missile defense architecture.
 In 1993, the Brilliant Pebbles program was cancelled in the name of preserving and strengthening the ABM Treaty.
 Bush withdrew the U.
 from the ABM Treaty in 2002, space-based missile defense programs remain dormant.


If the U. S
 is to deploy a truly effective defense against ballistic missiles, it will need to follow the advice of the Independent Working Group, which published a report on the direct connection between effective missile defenses and space-based capabilities.
 The system could be operated as a test bed and integrated into the broader missile defense architecture for a global defense by U. S
 Strategic Command.


Common sense about the effectiveness of space-based missile defense systems is borne out by technical analysis.

 He paid particular attention to the space-based elements of that architecture-specifically, the Brilliant Pebbles space-based interceptors-and assessed its promise across the parameters of cost, effectiveness, coverage, and management.

 It was built around [Brilliant Pebbles], which provided both defenses and an integrated, global [battle management, command, control, and communications system] to all layers of the defense.
 It was opposed by some who were concerned that its effectiveness might erode strategic stability, a concern that appears to linger today among both missile defense critics and advocates.
 These critics continue to focus their attention on space-based missile defense systems.
 The concern regarding excessive effectiveness even goes beyond missile defense.

 Hence, the extension of the argument against space-based missile defense to the more general criticisms regarding the weaponization of space.
 Further, they would rather describe space as something that it is not.
 But space is not a value.
 As such, like any land mass, it will harbor the values of the humans that use and control it.
 In the first ""space"" war, space was a transit point for furthering the Nazi values of Aryan racism.


Find out more about the state of missile defense systems in place in America today and why missile defense is so important in this new missile age.
 The site includes video commentary, animations of missile defense strategies, and extended missile defense resources and articles.