Militarisation of Outer Space: Threats, Challenges and Way Forward for Sri Lanka

Abstract

With the rapid development of the three dimensions of modern warfare (land, air and sea), many nations have commenced to concern towards space, as fourth dimension of future warfare. Outer Space is considered globally for deployment of weapons: both offensive and defensive. Militarisation of outer space would be an opportunity, for developed countries like US, China and Russia but would be a huge challenge for many under developed countries like Sri Lanka. At present there is a debate at United Nations level, whether outer space should be weaponised, only allowed to placement of defensive weapons, or kept free from all type of weapons. Presently, there are approximately sixty countries that are active in utilizing space for various purposes. The country which controls space has a real time presence and persistence over the globe with a definite edge and dominance in the battlefield as well. The future battle field will be very unimaginable without an effective interface from space-based technology. Space based assets can be used indirectly and directly, and targeting an adversary’s space assets through anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons could be a key feature of future warfare. ASAT weapons, Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) would be considerable trends of space militarisation. Successful military operations on ground, air and sea would depend heavily on how efficiently space resources are exploited.