REVOLUTION IN MILITARY AFFAIRS, MISSILE DEFENCE AND WEAPONS IN SPACE: THE US STRATEGIC TRIAD

dc.creator	Joelien Pretorius
dc.date	2011-07-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T20:08:21Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T20:08:21Z
dc.identifier	10.5787/33-1-4
dc.identifier	2224-0020
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/c82f13ffc6a64e3fa37ab27098fb7802
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/8155
dc.identifier.uri	https://doaj.org/article/c82f13ffc6a64e3fa37ab27098fb7802
dc.description	American plans for Missile Defence (MD) and the weaponisation of space should be analysed in the larger framework of the contemporary Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA).1 Soviet military analysts have written about this revolution from as early as the 1970s, but it was the application of information age technology (IT) in the 1991 Gulf War that captured the imagination of military planners and policy makers, especially in the US. The US is actively pursuing an RMA, conceptualised as integrating new IT into weapons systems and integrated command, control, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) and, in turn, doctrinal, operational and organisational change in the military to take advantage of information dominance on the battlefield. This relates to MD and the weaponisation of space in two ways. Firstly, very few countries have the financial and technological capability to modernise their defence forces along the lines of a US-defined RMA, which means that they may resort to so-called asymmetric means to exploit the vulnerabilities or weaknesses of a strong, conventional power. Ballistic missiles (in association with chemical, biological or nuclear payloads) are one of the asymmetrical threats most commonly cited in speeches and military documents of the US and used as justification of MD. Secondly, the RMA increases the US military’s reliance on space-based military assets for C4ISR. Placing weapons in space to protect these assets is seen as a logical step to ensure a key aspect of US dominance on the battlefield. This paper
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Military Science (Military Academy)
dc.relation	http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/4
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/2224-0020
dc.source	Scientia Militaria : South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 33, Iss 1 (2011)
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.subject	DOAJ:Military Science
dc.subject	DOAJ:Technology and Engineering
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.subject	DOAJ:Military Science
dc.subject	DOAJ:Technology and Engineering
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.subject	Military Science
dc.subject	U
dc.title	REVOLUTION IN MILITARY AFFAIRS, MISSILE DEFENCE AND WEAPONS IN SPACE: THE US STRATEGIC TRIAD
dc.type	Article