Military uses of space and disarmament

The vast medium that contains the Earth, Moon, Sun, planets, stars, and galaxies, and filled with electromagnetic energy is called space. Space has the boundless potential to help us increase happiness and prosperity on Earth. In the past, space activities were a prestige and deterrence factor only super powers enjoyed. Today, the use of simple reconnaissance and communications satellites has become vitally important for all states? economic and military activities. Military authorities, who study the aerospace concept and air defense from space, define space as the future battlefield and fourth dimension of war. In 2020-2025, space systems will transition from supporting an operation to being used as the direct mean of force enforcement. In other words, by deploying weapons to space we have the potential to engage any target during the conduct of military operations. The current legislature limiting the proliferation of weapons in space is far from effective. There is still considerable debate between nations in regards to the purpose and content of space law, the question if current space law meets the most basic requirements, and agreement of space terminology. The legislature recognizes no difference between ASAT weapons and BMD weapons; on the other hand, it deals significantly with the legality of non-nuclear ASAT weapons and the actual enforcement of the law dictated by possible treaties. In addition, there are issues regarding the nature of the talks pertaining to space law whether it will be one-sided or multi-national, which space systems the law will cover, how these systems will be made to comply with the Outer Space Treaty, and the control of ASAT systems and space junk. Clearly, constituting a space law that might assure the proliferation of space weapons is a tough and time-consuming process due to the complexity of the topic. But, the hope that space promises for the future of 386 mankind, requires the accomplishment of this tough task. The desired space law can be accomplished with the participation of legislators, military and technical experts, state representatives, commercial and industrial representatives, NGO groups, media, and interest groups involved in the topic. This issue has two implications for Turkey. First, Turkey should seek to utilize its space systems efficiently by observing the policies of nations who have displayed great success in national security and military operations by utilizing space. Second, considering the fact that space weapons will be deployed some time in the future by people, organizations, institutions or nations with ill intentions, Turkey should attempt to prevent such actions and always seek to develop readiness against such attacks.