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Both the United States and China have fired missiles that destroyed an object in space. There are few in the Pentagon or in the major powers of the world who doubt that both the US and China are committed to having the capacity to wage war in space. The problem is that the US is so dependent on space—more than any other nation.
As Steven Lee Myers argues, “It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that an M1-A1 tank couldn’t drive around the block in Iraq without [satellites].” Therefore, research continues on how to protect American satellites and deny the wartime use of them to potential enemies—including work on lasers and other extravagant weapons. The simple fact is that the US has the most satellites in space and we have the most to lose in any kind of warfare in space.
Consider this scenario: In the not-too-distant future, one of America’s primary enemies—at this time most logically China—would launch a barrage of antisatellite weapons, knocking out the American satellite system, and instantly paralyzing American troops, planes and ships around the world. Space itself would be polluted for decades, rendering much of it unusable! The global economic system would probably collapse, along with air travel and communications. Your cell phone, ATM card and dashboard GPS system would not work. In short, the consequences of war in space would be a veritable worldwide catastrophe of almost unimaginable proportions. Our space-based technology has made us even more vulnerable! Technology is both our friend and our enemy. Nothing perhaps demonstrates this better than space-based technology.
See Myers’s article in the New York Times (9 March 2008).
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