WEAPONING IN SPACE
Doruk MERAY tarafından WEAPONING IN SPACE
Critical developments in space weaponization in recent years demonstrate that space has become a strategic battlespace, not merely for reconnaissance but also for deterrence and offensive purposes. In 2007, China destroyed the Fengyun-1C satellite with a ground-based kinetic anti-satellite missile, triggering the largest space debris disaster in history—debris that fragmented into hundreds of thousands of pieces, threatening all satellites in space for years; this incident dramatically highlighted the potential for global testing of military capabilities in space. A year later, the United States, indicating a non-destructive approach, destroyed the U.S.-built satellite USA-193 in orbit with an SM-3 missile. In 2019, the U.S. Congress established the U.S. Space Force to institutionalize defensive and offensive space missions; This step formalized the military's "space superiority" strategy by defining space as its sixth operational domain. In the years that followed—such as Russia's destruction of the Kosmos 1408 satellite in 2021 and the rapid expansion of advanced ASAT capabilities by China and Russia by 2022—exclusionary behaviors that threaten orbital stability have become prevalent. The potential for space debris damage to satellites and military satellites (Kessler syndrome) suggests that this proliferation could have serious consequences not only for combat but also for civilian-based functions. This chronology clearly demonstrates that space has become the most formally targeted and protected warfare domain, yet the lack of binding international regulations and transparency remains a serious obstacle to controlling this proliferation.
References:
https://www.ft.com/content/509b39e0-b40c-41b3-9c6a-9005859c6fea?utm_
Doruk MERAY
