DTIC ADA519073: The Weaponization of Space: It pdf

DTIC ADA519073: The Weaponization of Space: It

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Description of the Book:

Through five articles culled from 30 years of Air University Review and Airpower Journal, an as-yet-unresolved debate over the merits of weaponizing space emerges. Moving away from President Eisenhower’s foundation of free space, an aerospace defense specialist during the race to the Moon advocated the deployment of advanced surveillance and tracking satellites, and implied that defensive weapons should follow. Fourteen years later, at the height of ICBM and medium-range ballistic missile escalation during the Cold War, an Air Force major cried Bear and called for the immediate and overt weaponization of space. In response to similar calls — especially to President Reagan’s SDI program — a retired Air Force officer and think-tank leader countered that space weapons were inherently destabilizing and must be avoided at all costs. Of course, the Soviet threat went away, but the space weapons enthusiasts did not — they prophesied doom at the hands of the Chinese unless America were to rapidly develop and deploy new space capabilities.

Finally, an active duty academic brought the argument back to its starting point, pointing out the excesses of the advocates’ positions and suggesting pragmatic yet nonthreatening policy choices for the future

• Creator/s: Defense Technical Information Center
• Date: 1/1/2000
• Year: 2000
• Book Topics/Themes: DTIC Archive, , AIR UNIV MAXWELL AFB AL, *POLICIES, *AIR FORCE, *SPACE WEAPONS, *SPACE WARFARE, *DEFENSE PLANNING, *MILITARY CAPABILITIES, COLD WAR, HISTORY, CHINA, TRANSFORMATIONS, ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES, THREATS, SPACE SYSTEMS, SPACE TECHNOLOGY, INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILES, USSR, REPRINTS

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