ISRAELI BIG: SPACE WEAPONS, PLEASE

The U.S. mil­i­tary isn’t the only coun­try, it seems, inter­ested in putting arms in orbit. “Israels top law­maker for defense and secu­rity affairs has called for the devel­op­ment and deploy­ment of space-​​based weapons,” Defense News reports.

In a rare pub­lic dis­cus­sion on Israels mil­i­tary use of space, Yuval Steinitz, chair­man of the Israels Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, said the nation must com­pen­sate for its lack of strate­gic depth on land by expand­ing use of sea– and space-​​based attacks.
Specifically, Steinitz urged defense and indus­try offi­cials to con­sider future devel­op­ments of anti-​​satellite mis­siles, satellite-​​attacking lasers and ship-​​based mis­siles that can strike the skies.
In Israel, our strate­gic Achilles heel is our minis­cule geo­graph­i­cal size, Steinitz told a Dec. 22 sym­po­sium spon­sored by the Israeli Space Society and the Fisher Institute for Strategic Air and Space Studies. This lack of ground ter­ri­tory and our oblig­a­tion to defend the home­land from attack dri­ves the need to develop a strate­gic enve­lope of air, sea and space forces not only for defense, but for attack.
The other side faces a mil­i­tary hand­i­cap when com­pared to Israel, but it can use its bor­ders to try through prim­i­tive means like Scud mis­siles, long-​​range artillery and guer­rilla tac­tics to threaten Israeli ter­ri­tory. Israel can­not allow itself to for­sake its ground forces, but it also can­not per­mit itself to be dragged into a land war. Therefore, it is ben­e­fi­cial to push the war into the air, sea and space…
While Steinitz con­ceded that his exhor­ta­tions for a mil­i­ta­rized, tightly inte­grated sea, air and space force was merely my per­sonal vision, at this point, he said he would use his influ­en­tial com­mit­tee chair­man­ship to push for greater space-​​related fund­ing. What were see­ing today is just the begin­ning spark of a new kind of war­fare that war­rants a new kind of defense doctrine.”

THERE’S MORE: Darpa chief Tony Tether is in Israel right now, Defense News notes, look­ing for new tech­nolo­gies to bet­ter fight the block-​​by-​​block bat­tles that have become so com­mon in Iraq. It’s part of a grow­ing trend of G.I.s rely­ing on sabras to sup­ply some of their gear.

January 11th, 2005 | Space | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.