STRATFOR: HOW TO AVOID SPACE WARS

As you can tell, this week has been a busy week for space news, and we've been focussing on it the past few days. UNfortunately, space isn't the only thing in the news, and my "inbox" and "finals pile" of articles burgeons with articles to blog about, and I wish I could, but there is only so much time in a day and only so much energy in one individual blogger (me). But this one, accompanied by today's "tidbit" are indicators of just how much thought is being given to space-related matters behind the scenes.

In today's article, shared by a regular reader here, Mr. E.G., there are no movie commericials, no references to little green men from Pentagon generals, but rather a great deal of sobering qeopolitical reflection:

Avoiding a War in Space

Note that the article is focussed on the usual cultprits: (1) the disproportionate reliance of the US military on space-based assets for communications and to act as force multipliers for the global reach of the US military as opposed to (2) the more regional geopolitical interests of such powers as Russia and China, which accordingly makes them less-space reliant, and therefore (3) more willing to entertain "assymetrical" risks and responses to the American space platforms, and to contemplate "soft techniques" of blinding those space assets without escalating to full scale physical destruction of American satellites:

The great advantages that space assets afford the United States have not gone unnoticed by its potential rivals. Though China and Russia, for instance, also rely on space, they are less dependent on their space assets than the United States is. First, neither nation has as much in orbit. In addition, because both put greater focus on their immediate geographic regions, they can use more conventional tools to achieve their objectives. For instance, Beijing, by virtue of geographic proximity, could rely on its ground-based radars and sensors in a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The United States, on the other hand, would have to lean on its satellites to support a response in the same area.

Despite the United States' superior ability to strike at enemy space constellations — groups of similar kinds of satellites — competitors may determine that the resulting loss of space access would be worthwhile if they could severely degrade U.S. space access. And while the United States is the most proficient nation in space-based warfare, there are limits to its abilities. Satellites in orbit follow predictable movements, have restricted maneuverability and are difficult to defend from an attack.

There is little doubt that a full kinetic strike on U.S. satellites, which would inflict physical damage, would invite a devastating response. But tactics designed to degrade the satellites' abilities, rather than to destroy their hardware, could be deemed less escalatory and therefore perhaps worth the risk. These include jamming signals, hacking operational software and dazzling (temporarily blinding) or permanently disabling sensors. Calculating the risk of nonkinetic strikes, which would create little physical damage and could even be reversed, a potential foe would take into account the United States' hesitance to escalate a conflict in space, given its heavy dependence on orbital technology.

Against the threat of actual space warfare, the USA, as the article notes, is embarked upon a program of the development of newer types of smaller, "modular" satellites adaptable to carrying different types of payloads and equipment, and presumably, these "modular" satellites would also involve new technologies of "self assembly", as a number of such platforms could be cheaply and quickly launched, and robotically assembled in space. For these and other measures, the watchword is "deterrence," dettering any potential enemy from taking out American space-based assets.

And that, in my opinion, is the key to what may be going on: "any potential enemy."

My high octane speculation, however, is that we may be looking at more than just concerns about Russia and China, which are the convenient scapegoats of the moment for almost any threat, real or presumed, that the USA faces. For example, I have also recently blogged about the fact that the US military wants to position its newer space assets even farther out from Earth, presumably beyond reach of the known Russian and Chinese ground-based anti-satellite missile (and other) weapons capability. As I speculated previously on this move, in order to protect the "sea lanes" for the mining of celestial bodies like the Moon, such a move makes sense. It's the deterrence of "any potential enemy" that I think is at work behind the scenes, and Russia and China are the convenient spin on this deterrence activity. As I blogged three days ago about the strange commercial about a "space soldier's dad," with its seeming attachment to the US Army, and General Milley's recent pronouncements about having to fight "little green men," not to mention the commercial's relationship to the 1990s blockbuster movie Independence Day, the "meme" here seems to be "any potential enemy", human, or otherwise...

...For recall in Independence Day earth's satellites were used by the invading "little green men" to coordinate a planetary bombardment. What was intended to be a "force multiplier" for humans became a "force multiplier" for invading extraterrestrials. AThe article also mentions the construction of a new "space fence" to monitor all objects in Earth orbit. But given the strange noises coming out of the media and the Pentagon lately about space, I would not be a bit surprised that this space "fence" is the analogous version of the old Cold War "DEWS" (Defense Early Warging System) that spanned the Arctic Circle to monitor potential Soviet missile launches. Only in this case, what can look "down" is probably also looking "up." And therein lies the problem, for it will also inevitably mean the positioning of actual space-based weapons. In this respect, it is interesting that the article mentions the American superiority in space defense over its nearest rivals, Russia and China. If that's the case, then the pushing of space defense and deterrence would seem - all other clues being factored in - to be directed toward "any potential enemy." Space has already been militarized, but my guess is also that it has already been weaponized.

See you on the flip side...

Posted in

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

12 Comments

  1. emlong on May 24, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    It’s darkly fascinating to see what the threat of de-dollarization can do to the thought processes of the country printing the dollars.



  2. emlong on May 24, 2016 at 12:19 pm

    but as the article pointed out when satellites get taken out the battle quickly escalates to nuclear. There is plenty of incentive not to start doing that unless things have gotten way out of hand or it can be blamed on a non-terrestrial force.



  3. marcos toledo on May 24, 2016 at 12:19 pm

    If these idiots were on somebodies payroll they couldn’t be doing a better job. Lets see pissing off Russia-China shooting up the Islamic countries beating up their own subjects(citizens)what a way to be upstanding pillars of society great work jerks and these are the ones who will defend the solar system from space invaders.



  4. Guygrr on May 24, 2016 at 12:11 pm

    Funny that they don’t mention “any potential enemies” ability to hack and commandeer U.S. space assets for their own purposes. Taking out satellites I think would be relatively easy today, there are any number of phased arrays that could knock em out of the sky or fry their electronics in a jiffy.



  5. loisg on May 24, 2016 at 12:06 pm

    I wonder if there is any connection between the US military and the Vatican, because they seem to be monitoring something (someone?) that is approaching the earth via their telescope in Arizona. But then, too, didn’t someone already say that the US has been out into space already themselves and therefore they already know what could be out there and approaching the earth.
    I think they are truly worried.



  6. goshawks on May 24, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” Over the target? goshawks – May 24, 2016 at 12:01 pm.



    • goshawks on May 24, 2016 at 7:03 pm

      My comment is now out of moderation, just below this one. Enjoy!



  7. goshawks on May 24, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    “Space has already been militarized, but my guess is also that it has already been weaponized.”

    Most people don’t understand the simple power of kinetic energy. To take-out an opponent in space, it is not necessary to have a ‘Battlestar Galactica’-sized weapon. All you need is something microsat-sized with maneuvering thrusters.

    When you have orbital-geometry computers and the time to accomplish it, thrusting-tweaks will put you in an intersecting orbit with the desired object. Kinetic energy at, say, 14,000 mph will function better than a tank’s armor-piercing shell. Metal becomes plasma at those speeds.

    So, space may be weaponized without any ‘weapons’ at all…

    (Kinda puts those new 1,000-smallsat constellations in a different light, doesn’t it?)



    • zendogbreath on May 24, 2016 at 11:37 pm

      gracias goshawks
      good point



  8. Robert Barricklow on May 24, 2016 at 10:38 am

    All along this road of commies, terrorists, an little green men; all along this road protecting us from invasion are the liberty sacrifices for more & more road security. When all along these Happy Trails To You song & dance is the fact: You’ve Already Been Invaded!
    The enemy has already taken power and…
    WANTS MORE!



  9. emlong on May 24, 2016 at 10:19 am

    The US is going to wage war via faux proxies once again except that this go’round it won’t be “Al Queda,” “ISIS,” etc – it will be a contrived “ET” force which cannot be blamed on any one terrestrial nation. The
    “ET” force will also for good measure perform high tech military attacks on certain select NATO-US targets so as to deflect suspicion away from the force being of US origin, and those attacks will help to further terrorize and cow the West into submission to the burgeoning fascist state deemed necessary to control and suppress citizens in collapsed financial systems which will of course be the whole planet.
    It could all go wrong and the man behind the curtain be revealed, but probably not before a lot of disruption and destruction makes “total control” a fait accompli.



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