U.S. push for space weaponisation must be challenged, Independent Australia
While most of the world supports outlawing space weaponry, the U.S. Government is still pushing to militarise space, writes Karl Grossman.
RETIRED U.S. Army Colonel John Fairlamb stated in a piece in
The Hill, the Washington, DC news website:
Fairlamb knows the issue with the weaponisation of space. His background includes being an International Affairs Specialist for the Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Military Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs. He is familiar with war first-hand: he was a company commander in Vietnam and holds a doctorate in Comparative Defense Policy Analysis.
U.S. push for space weaponisation must be challenged
Independent Australia
08 May 2021, 18:52 GMT+10
While most of the world supports outlawing space weaponry, the U.S. Government is still pushing to militarise space, writes Karl Grossman.
RETIRED U.S. Army Colonel John Fairlamb stated in a piece in The Hill, the Washington, DC news website:
Fairlamb knows the issue with the weaponisation of space. His background includes being an International Affairs Specialist for the Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Military Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs. He is familiar with war first-hand: he was a company commander in Vietnam and holds a doctorate in Comparative Defense Policy Analysis.
NationofChange
Space weaponization âcannot be walked backâ
âItâs time for arms control planning to address the issues raised by this drift toward militarization of space.â
The Hill, the Washington, D.C. news website. Fairlamb knows the weaponization of space issue. His background includes being an International Affairs Specialist for the Army Space and Missile Defense Command and a Military Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs. He is familiar with war first-hand: he was a company commander in Vietnam. He holds a doctorate in âComparative Defense Policy Analysis.â âGiven the implications for strategic stability, and the likelihood that such a decision [to deploy weapons in space] by any nation would set off an expensive space arms race in which any advantage gained would likely be temporary, engaging now to prevent such a debacle seems warranted,â wrote Fairlamb in his opinion column on
Shchit-2 was a Soviet-era missile created to protect the Almaz military space stations from foreign threats.
An example of the missile is currently displayed in a restricted area at NPO Mashinostroyenia, a rocket design bureau based in Reutov, Russia, alongside an earlier version - called the Shchit-1.
The Shchit-1 featured a 23mm cannon and is the only gun to ever be fired in space, reported The Drive, as far as public information suggests.
The Almaz programme was a hidden effort by the Soviets to weaponise their space station - which was just a civilian endeavour as far as the rest of the world was aware.
How UN Marked International Day of Human Space Flight
How UN Marked International Day of Human Space Flight
United Nations marked the International Day of Human Space Flight on Monday, celebrating the achievements of astronauts who are “stretching the boundaries” of where civilisation can go, beyond the stratosphere.
Observed annually on April 12, the International Day commemorates the date in 1961 when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin carried out the first-ever human space flight, opening a way for space exploration for the benefit of all humanity.
In a message, Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA), Simonetta Di Pippo said that 60 years ago, “a new era for humanity began – with sky no longer the limit”.