space security


24 Space-Based Missile Defense Satellites Cannot Defend Against ICBMs

, co-director and senior scientist

August 10, 2018 7:41 AM EDT

Articles citing a classified 2011 report by the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) have mistakenly suggested the report finds that a constellation of only 24 satellites can be used for space-based boost-phase missile defense.

This finding would be in contrast to many other studies that have shown that a space-based boost-phase missile defense system would require hundreds of interceptors in orbit to provide thin coverage of a small country like North Korea, and a thousand or more to provide thin coverage over larger regions of the Earth. Read more >

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Questions about a US Space Force

, senior scientist

June 22, 2018 11:56 AM EDT

This week, President Trump verbally directed General Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “to begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.”

The term “Space Force” really got everyone’s attention. Obviously, everyone wants to know what the uniform would be. And the whole idea is built for memes.

What’s it all about? Let me respond to three different kinds of questions I’ve been hearing about this. Read more >

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Tillerson, Mattis and the Chinese

, China project manager and senior analyst

June 23, 2017 3:02 PM EDT

Rex Tillerson and James Mattis are talking to their Chinese counterparts. The conversation is just getting started but it appears to be constructive. Their remarks to the press after a recent meeting in Washington with State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui should calm Asian fears about potentially destabilizing changes to US policy in the region. Read more >

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Sputnik Revisited

, China project manager and senior analyst

October 4, 2016 12:13 PM EDT

Fifty-nine years ago today, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit, setting off a panic in the United States that contributed to the evolution of a “space race” between the two superpowers.

Last week, Congress held a hearing on the question of whether the United States was losing a new space race with China. Unfortunately, the witnesses seemed more interested in re-creating the alarmism of the Sputnik era than in offering Congress an accurate picture of the Chinese space program. This raises doubts about the value of the hearing’s contribution to congressional perspectives on US-China relations in space. Read more >

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The United States, China, and Anti-Satellite Weapons

, China project manager and senior analyst

September 7, 2016 9:47 AM EDT

Many US observers believe anti-satellite (ASAT) attacks could be China’s trump card in a major military confrontation with the United States. But the reality may be exactly the opposite. The United States could have more to gain, and China more to lose, from taking the fight to outer space. A US presidential decision to pursue this advantage would make the United States, not China, the protagonist in a new space arms race that would undermine the security of both nations. Read more >

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