Viability of U.S. Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Policy: Moving Toward Space Control

摘要

This is the 30th volume in the Occasional Paper series of the U.S. Air Force Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). It is particularly timely that with the increased emphasis on space within the U.S. Air Force, in light of the ongoing HQ USAF efforts toward air and space integration into a true aerospace force, and in the wake of the 1998 INSS conference 'Spacepower for a New Millennium,' this work represents the initiation of the Space Policy Series of INSS Occasional Papers. In this paper, Dr Joan Johnson-Freese presents an examination of past U.S. policy and international treaty interpretations on anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) in space within the context of the organizational politics surrounding questions of developing and deploying these systems. With the ever-increasing American commercial and military reliance on space, these questions are particularly timely, and it is our hope that the debate on ASATs -- indeed on the larger issues of weaponization of space -- can be better informed by this paper.