La seguridad en el Espacio se ha convertido en un asunto de especial interés de las Potencias mundiales. En los últimos años los gobiernos han comenzado a preocuparse de las crecientes vulnerabilidades a la Seguridad Nacional, debidas a la proliferación de diferentes capacidades ofensivas que podrían accionar sobre los sistemas espaciales propios. El informe producido por el WORLD SECURITY FORUM presenta una cantidad de información recopilada de fuentes de acceso público, acerca de la situación y estado del arte en este tema de especial interés.
Space security has become an increasingly salient policy issue. Over the last several years, there has been growing concern from multiple governments over the reliance on vulnerable space capabilities for national security, and the corresponding proliferation of offensive counterspace capabilities that could be used to disrupt, deny, degrade, or destroy space systems. This in turn has led to increased rhetoric from some countries about the need to prepare for future conflicts on Earth to extend into space, and calls from some corners to increase the development of offensive counterspace capabilities and put in place more aggressive policies and postures.
We feel strongly that a more open and public debate on these issues is urgently needed. Space is not the sole domain of militaries and intelligence services. Our global society and economy is increasingly dependent on space capabilities, and a future conflict in space could have massive, long-term negative repercussions that are felt here on Earth. Even testing of these capabilities could have long-lasting negative repercussions for the space environment, and all who operate there. The public should be as aware of the developing threats and risks of different policy options as would be the case for other national security issues in the air, land, and sea domains.
The Report
SWF launched a project in the summer of 2017 to develop an open source assessment of global counterspace capabilities. The purpose of the project was to provide a public assessment of counterspace capabilities being developed by countries based on unclassified information. We hope doing so will increase public knowledge of these issues, the willingness of policymakers to discuss these issues openly, and involvement of other stakeholders in the debate.
We convened a group of international experts to work with our staff to compile publicly-available information for various countries developing counterspace capabilities across several categories: direct ascent, co-orbital, directed energy, electronic warfare, and cyber. For each of these categories, we assessed what the current and near-term capabilities might be for the countries examined in the report, based on the open source information. We also assessed the potential military utility for each capability, which includes both the advantages and disadvantages of the capabilities. Finally, when possible, we also examined each country’s policy, doctrine, and budget to support the offensive counterspace capabilities being developed. Taken together, the analysis is intended to provide a more holistic picture of what each country is working on, and how these capabilities may be used.
The 2019 edition of the report added several new issue areas and major events that happened in 2018, including:
- More details on Chinese and American directed energy weapons research
- New rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) being conducted in the geosynchronous Earth orbit region (GEO) by the United States, Russia, and China
- New info on what appears to be a new Russian co-orbital ASAT program known as Burevestnik
- Preliminary details about the April 2019 Indian ASAT test
Next Steps
We intend this counterspace report to be the foundation of future SWF work on space security issues. We will continue to track and monitor the development and testing of counterspace technologies, as well as the policies and doctrine for their potential use. We will continue to encourage public dialogue between governments and the broader space community on the potential threat use of counterspace capabilities poses for space sustainability and stability, including the burgeoning commercial development of space. We also anticipate developing future versions of the report, potentially with additional partners and sources of support, that will increase our ability to provide a comprehensive assessment of these trends.
Fuente: https://swfound.org
