The Washington Times
A senior State Department official said in Beijing this week the United States will oppose a formal treaty banning weapons in space, as both China and Russia recently conducted flight tests of satellite-killing missiles.
Frank Rose, assistant secretary for arms control, verification and compliance, called for arms control in space during a speech at the ASEAN Regional Forum workshop on space security in Beijing Monday, but said the Obama administration will oppose a 2008 Russian and Chinese proposal to ban all weapons in space.
“The most pressing and existing threat to outer space systems is actually terrestrially based anti-satellite weapons, which exist, have been tested and have already damaged the space environment,” Mr. Rose said. “The continued development of such weapons, and their potential use in a conflict, should be of grave concern to all governments. Due to high-impact speed in space, even sub-millimeter debris poses a realistic threat to human spaceflight and robotic missions.”
The U.S. will oppose the Russian and Chinese proposal dubbed the “Treaty on Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space and of the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects” or PPWT, because it’s unverifiable, contains no prohibition on developing and stockpiling space arms and does not address ground-based space weapons, such as direct ascent anti-satellite missiles, Mr. Rose said.
Another proposal calling for “No First Placement” (NFP) of weapons in space also is flawed, he added.
“Given the fundamental flaws contained in these two proposals the United States does not support either initiative and does not see them as an acceptable basis for negotiation in the Conference on Disarmament or in any other forum,” Mr. Rose said.
Instead, the U.S. is seeking to promote measures to limit space debris that can cause damage to both satellites and astronauts.
China’s 2007 anti-satellite missile test blew up a weather satellite that left thousands of pieces of orbiting debris that now threatens both manned and unmanned spaceflight…
