MILITARY-Industry Partnership in Space Militarization: The Art of Contemporary Space-Based “Sensing, Command & Control”

Abstract

Some leading spacefaring nations, like the United States(US), have been prioritizing missile defense for their homeland security by making the best out of the space infrastructure, which is believed to realize more effective, as well as proactive, defense. Technically, the space-based sensor layers play an indispensable role in the execution of the Ballistic Missile Defense System(BMDS). For instance, the US Space-based Kill Assessment(SKA) project, led by the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency(MDA), represents one of the latest attempts to strengthen the layered satellite sensor systems, and eventually to reinforce the American missile defense capabilities, such as the BMDS, by 2020. The SKA experiment is noteworthy also in a sense that the kill assessment sensors will be piggy-backed on commercial satellites mainly for the cost-savings benefits. This reportedly first partnership of the MDA with commercial stakeholders for its space applications evokes the enduring debate over the dual-use objects as a potential aid to space weapons. It is true, to some extent, that the increasing cooperation between the defense and the commercial industry sectors permits more ‘economical’ investments in outer space, and facilitates its efficient use for national security interests. However, this approach may simultaneously generate the consequence of jeopardizing the current regulatory framework and norms that the international community had long been trying to establish in order to ‘peacefully’ preserve outer space as a common heritage of all mankind. Considering today’s paradigm shift from global harmonization to reverted nationalism, the sustainability of our civilization may, after all, depend on each national government's choice; i.e., in which direction they would form their space policy and how far to go.