Today it is difficult to find a sphere of human activity that does not use space technologies. But it should be remembered that among the factors that at one time stimulated the space activities of mankind, one of the main ones was the issue of ensuring national security.
Today, the importance of the space component in the interests of military affairs is obvious. The experience of recent wars and armed conflicts shows that in modern conditions, military space assets are making an increasing contribution to the training and use of groupings of troops (forces). In modern conditions, and at the current level of development of military space assets, some of the combat capabilities of the armed forces through the use of information and other space components are integrally increased by 1.5 … 2.0 times.
The use of space systems makes it possible to increase the efficiency of using the already existing military potential of the state by almost a third. Thus, reconnaissance spacecraft provide an increase in target designation accuracy by 30-50% and an increase in the number of enemy objects revealed by the reconnaissance system by 20-30% or more, and an optical-electronic reconnaissance spacecraft receives the same number of images over the territory of Ukraine in one orbit around the Earth., as well as a reconnaissance aircraft for six months of flights over this area.
As of the end of last year, more than 130 states of the world were involved in space activities, of which about 40 were working on programs for the use of space assets in weapons systems, and 17 countries had their own space programs. It should be noted that the countries of the so-called third world are showing increasing activity in this area.
It is no coincidence that the hostilities in the Persian Gulf in 1991, thanks to the large-scale use of military space assets, were classified as "the first space war of our era." Space assets provided the troops of the anti-Iraqi coalition with timely and reliable data on the grouping of Iraqi troops, their movements, other actions, etc., as well as information on the terrain and weather.
Now the United States is actively creating the National Missile Defense ("National Missile Defense"), which will operate using spacecraft. Already at the end of 2004, the US Air Force command prepared a space war doctrine: "Air Force Doctrine Document 2-2.1: Counterspace Operations". This document specifies how the United States will have to defend its spacecraft from the enemy and fight against hostile satellites and spaceships. It is assumed that even spacecraft belonging to neutral countries or commercial structures can become targets for the use of the forces and means of the US Air Force, if their use helps the enemy.
Analysis of foreign experience shows that now the process of transition of military space assets to a new quantitative and qualitative level of development is being actively carried out. For example, in the United States, in addition to a complete renovation of the orbital group over the next 10 years, the organizational structure of the military space forces, their forms and methods of use are being improved. At the beginning of the new millennium, a new Joint Strategic Command (hereinafter referred to as USC) was created with headquarters at Offut airbase (Nebraska). This was due to the need to concentrate, under a unified leadership, forces and assets that ensure a prompt response to threats to US national security, improve the control processes of these forces and increase the effectiveness of the fulfillment of the tasks of global support for the actions of our armed forces. Its operational subordination is to ground-based strategic missile forces; strategic bomber aviation; sea-based strategic missile forces; forces and means of warning of a nuclear missile strike; forces and means of anti-space and anti-missile defense. It can be stated that for the first time in the United States, the means of armed confrontation are concentrated in one structure, which make it possible to achieve strategic goals in the field of national security.
European countries are not lagging behind the United States, primarily in the use of space assets for reconnaissance support. The need to create supranational joint bodies and intelligence forces of the European Union was spelled out in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. In 1999, at a meeting in Cologne, EU leaders agreed to create autonomous intelligence resources needed to respond to international crises. Among them is the Satellite Center in Torrejon, which became operational in 1997. The center does not have its own reconnaissance spacecraft, but instead its task is to coordinate information flows coming from national reconnaissance spacecraft, including the Helios optoelectronic reconnaissance system and, possibly, from the German Sar-Lupei radar reconnaissance space system.
We should not forget about the activities in the field of the use of outer space for military purposes on the part of neighboring states. In particular, Poland carries out space activities in the field of national security on the basis of multi-directional cooperation. Back in 2004, Poland received permission from the US government to build and operate a receiving station, as well as to process data from spacecraft from the US, Canada and India. Also, the country is implementing a policy of integration into European space structures, including military ones. If Poland obtains the right to receive data from the Pleiades dual-purpose spacecraft created by France, the Ministry of Defense and the relevant special services of the country will be able to regularly receive the necessary information on all strategic, military and industrial facilities on the territory of any country.
Our other neighbor Romania's activities in the space industry are largely driven by its pursuit of regional leadership. Its activity in the implementation of its own space programs, in particular in defensive areas, is constantly growing. With the full implementation of the activities of the "Space and Security" section of the Second National Plan for Research and Development of Technologies for 2007-2013, Romania will be able to provide space support for national security. The expenses for the implementation of these activities have increased in comparison with the first aerospace program of Romania in 2001-2006 by almost five times - up to 196.8 million dollars. Private companies are also actively involved in the implementation of priority national programs, due to which this amount can significantly (up to 30%) increase.
In 2005, the Turkish government launched the first national space program of the state. Among its main priorities is the creation of space systems in the interests of national security. The total amount of funding is $ 200 million. Six years have been allotted for the implementation of the project, and already in 2011 it is planned to launch the first national satellite.
A similar situation is observed in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, where the integration of forces and means that carry out the tasks of armed warfare in aerospace is being actively pursued. At present, in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 24, 2001, the Space Forces have been created in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the basis of which was the former Military Space Forces and the Rocket and Space Defense Forces. Today the Space Forces are capable of solving tactical and strategic tasks. Together with space forces and assets, the Space Forces have a separate rocket and space defense formation. It includes a missile attack warning system, an anti-missile defense system, and an outer space control system.
Thus, the emergence of space weapons, the need to prepare outer space as a sphere of military operations, corresponding objects of space infrastructure, led to the allocation of space as a separate sphere of military activity.
