IN the ongoing strategy and military competition, space has become a new battlefield in the current era, where major global powers are heavily investing in defensive space capabilities.
This new front is distinct from traditional weapons and is primarily focused on satellites, communication networks, and other space assets.
Undoubtedly, modern advancements and the expansion of space technology have significantly increased its importance in the defense sector.
A report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the US warned in its “Space Threat Assessment 2023” that space has become the centre of power competition.
Space technologies have dual applications, including navigation systems and Earth observation satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) equipped with high-resolution cameras.
The inclusion of these systems in defense strategies not only enhances operational capabilities but also facilitates intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), command and control (C2), as well as early warning, communication links, and precision targeting.
The role of space systems is central to modern warfare.
Consequently, in light of the strategic significance of space, the US, China, Russia, India, and other countries are allocating a large portion of their budgets for this purpose.
According to the Space Foundation, the global military space budget was $57 billion in 2023, accounting for 56% of government space expenditures in that year.
A comparative analysis of military capabilities in space reveals that the US currently maintains dominance in this field, followed by Russia, China, and India.
However, a new race for supremacy in space began in the first decade of the 21st century, resulting in the establishment of space forces and the development of new technologies like Anti-Satellite (ASAT) weapons.
The goal of US strategy has been to maintain its superiority in space, a position it has held for decades.
The US’s advanced space defence system helped monitor the Taliban closely through photography and radar imagery during the Afghan War in 2001.
The establishment of the US Space Force in 2019 and the allocation of a $29.4 billion budget for space defence in 2024 reflect Pentagon strategy.
The US is advancing military space technology with private firms like SpaceX, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin to develop electronic warfare and cyber capabilities for space operations.
Meanwhile, Russia and China are actively challenging US dominance.
China possesses advanced electronic warfare systems capable of disrupting American satellites and prioritizes securing space assets.
Both nations are rapidly expanding military capabilities in anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, satellite jamming, cyber warfare, and space surveillance.
The Chinese Strategic Support Force (SSF) oversees operations in space, cyberspace, and electronic warfare, while the PLA Aerospace Force manages space activities with a $10 billion annual budget.
China also plans to establish a Belt and Road Space Information Corridor.
Russia, once a space leader, struggled post-Soviet collapse but remains competitive, leveraging its GLONASS system for military and civilian use.
Its 2021 ASAT test reinforced its position against US and NATO influence.
Despite economic difficulties, Russia retains strategic ambitions, evident in its 2024 veto of a US-proposed nuclear arms race resolution.
Russia’s Aerospace Force remains actively engaged in military space missions, underscoring the intensifying competition among global powers.
India, leveraging China’s advancements in space, is expanding its own space capabilities and has entered into agreements with its strategic partners, including the significant US-India Space Security Dialogue.
In 2019, India established the Defence Space Agency, which focuses on space defence projects.
India is rapidly enhancing its military capabilities in space, with its reconnaissance satellites, anti-satellite missiles, and navigation systems aimed at surveilling, monitoring, and neutralizing military assets in Pakistan.
Dual-use technologies such as Geosynchronous Satellites (GSAT), Cartosat Earth Observation satellites, and the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) are part of India’s efforts to achieve strategic autonomy.
India is also benefiting from US partnerships to enhance its capabilities in acquiring geographical information.
The ASAT missile test conducted in 2019 aimed to present India as a space power.
Pakistan formulated its first space policy in 2023, yet its space program remains in its early stages compared to the US, Russia, China and India.
To bridge this gap, Pakistan is collaborating with allies like China and Turkeyia.
Mean-while, global powers are advancing space technologies, signalling a shift toward militarization and an arms race in space.
Although the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prohibits weapons deployment in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), no strict regulations exist for ASAT weapons and electronic warfare.
Major powers have vetoed the 1980 UN resolution on preventing an arms race in space and failed to agree on the latest disarmament resolution in April 2024, reflecting mutual distrust and growing militarization.
This unchecked competition heightens the risk of nuclear conflict, threatening global security.
Additionally, private space firms are playing a pivotal role in military conflicts, exemplified by SpaceX’s Starlink aiding Ukraine’s drone operations against Russia.
Elon Musk’s involvement highlights how future wars could extend beyond traditional battlefields, with private entities shaping warfare both on land and in space.
Considering these facts, it is evident that scientifically advanced countries have now turned space into a battleground as major powers.
It is clear that this new arms race in space has already begun and is likely to accelerate rather than diminish in the future.
The need of the hour for Pakistan is to enhance its capabilities in the space domain to address any potential threats in the context of national security, especially in light of these advancements in space.
—The writer is Chairman, Tehrik Jawanan Pakistan. (abdullahhamidgul1@gmail.com)
