***Leadership*** Leadership Key
Missile leadership is key to the creation of new technologies like robotics and better lasers
Schaffer 03- Bob, former U.S. Senator and Congressman from Colorado former vice chairman of the senate education committee, 10/15/2003, “US Needs Space-Based Missile Defense”, Vital Speeches of the Day Vol. 70, Issue 1, 28-32
Building an effective missile defense requires the United States to deploy its kinetic kill interceptors in space like Brilliant Pebbles, not in underground concrete missile silos. An intelligent design would utilize the advantages that deployment in space offers in providing global coverage, boost-phase interception, the use of robotics, minimal operational costs, and the ability to use high-energy lasers for boost phase interception and active discrimination of decoys. There is a third ingredient for building an effective missile defense. This ingredient is technological leadership, including the ability to manage programs involving technology to produce timely results. Good leadership needs to manage the effort to build a missile defense effectively, to produce timely results rather than create an endless cycle of studies, delays, testing, and indecision. In the past the United States has exhibited bursts of technological leadership, including President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, which supported a vast program of research and development for missile defense technology.
Space Based better than land based. Key to a layered defense
Schaffer 03- Bob, former U.S. Senator and Congressman from Colorado former vice chairman of the senate education committee, 10/15/2003, “US Needs Space-Based Missile Defense”, Vital Speeches of the Day Vol. 70, Issue 1, 28-32
For this reason U.S. military strategy emphasizes air superiority, the high ground of combined air, land, and sea operations. There is also the high ground of space, which U.S. military forces recognize as vital to the operation of our intelligence, communications, reconnaissance, and navigation systems, which rely heavily on satellites. Building an effective missile defense also requires good position. But this position isn't found on the ground, it is found in space where the ballistic missile operates. Building an effective missile defense requires a strategy that deploys a missile defense in the high ground of space. Good leadership would deploy a missile defense in space. Good leadership would point the way to space. Both the Strategic Defense Initiative of the 1980's and early 1990's and Project Defender of the later 1950's and early 1960's pointed the way to space, recognizing the inherent advantages of deploying a missile defense in space. The earlier Project Argus nuclear test shots in 1958 and Starfish 1962 also pointed to space. Dr. Nicholas Christofilos from Lawrence Livermore realized space provides a position with global coverage against ballistic missile threats. The strategic advantages of deploying a missile defense in space are considerable. Global coverage, the capability for boost-phase interception, the use of robotics minimizing operational costs, and the potential of high-energy lasers and particle beams led these earlier missile defense programs to emphasize the development of defenses based in space. Even the Clinton administration was aware of the advantages that accrue from deployment of a missile defense in space, as seen in its decision to complete the termination of the Brilliant Pebbles program for deploying a space-based interceptor defense, and attempt to terminate the Space Based Laser.
Space Based missile defense gives the means to protect other space infrastructure
Cleave & Pfaltzgraff et al.09- Dr. William R. Van Cleave Professor Emeritus Department of Defense and Strategic Studies Missouri State University Dr. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr. Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of International Security Studies The Fletcher School, Tufts University President, Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, “Report Independent Working Group on Missile Defense,the Space Relationship,& the Twenty-First Century”, Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, http://www.ifpa.org/pdf/IWG2009.pdf
Access to a secure space environment is indispensable if the United States is to deploy a robust, layered missile defense. It is essential not only to assure that the United States will be able to use space for missile defense, but also to develop the means to protect other space-based assets and infrastructure. Space has become an arena of crucial importance to the United States both for commercial purposes and for national security. Just as it must maintain capabilities to defend its interests in the air, at sea, and on land, the United States needs to defend its space-based assets. At the same time we must deny the hostile use of space by our enemies. Just as land, the seas, and the air have been conflict arenas, space is changing how wars are fought and where they will be fought. This section addresses the role of space in twenty-first century U.S. national security strategy and its essential contributions to future missile defense. Space offers unique opportunities for a global missile defense. The obstacles to space-based missile defense lie primarily in the political arena rather than in technological limitations. This section examines issues that must be addressed if the United States is to deploy a missile defense that includes space-based interdiction capabilities. Present U.S. Space Strengths The United States is the leading space power, and as such it depends more on space than does any other nation, a situation that leads inevitably to both vulnerabilities and opportunities. The U.S. position in space has grown out of numerous strengths developed over more than five decades. These strengths fall into two broad, overlapping categories: (1) military force enhancement; and (2) commercial utilization of space. Because of the dual-use nature of these technologies, it is not easy to separate their military applications from their commercial ones. Therefore, the failure of the United States to remain in the forefront of space technologies would have both military and commercial implications. Advances in the military or civilian sectors will overlap, intersect, and reinforce each other. Consequently, the development in the United States of a dynamic and innovative private-sector space industry will be indispensable to future U.S. space leadership. Nevertheless, the ability of the U.S. military to contribute to, and benefit from, such a space technology base will depend on its focus and priorities. The availability of technologies does not lead inevitably to their exploitation. America may fail to move forward to exploit technological opportunities and breakthroughs. Such choices may be based on political or other considerations, whether well founded or the product of mistaken assumptions about what competitors or adversaries will or will not do. Just as control of the seas has been essential to the right of innocent passage for commerce, the ability of the United States to maintain assured access to space and freedom of action in space will depend on space control. Given the already extensive importance of space for commercial and military purposes, as well as its prospective role in missile defense, the United States must maintain control of space in the twenty-first century. This commitment to space control is neither new nor destabilizing, despite claims to the contrary. The Security
Environment in Outer Space
Share with your friends: |
