The use of military space tools - the requirement of modernity
Today it is difficult to find a sphere of human activity in which space technologies are not used. But it should be remembered that among the factors that at one time stimulated the space activity of mankind, one of the main issues was the issue of ensuring national security.
Today the significance 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 preparation and use of groups of troops (forces). In modern conditions, also at the current level of development of military space weapons, some combat capabilities of the armed forces due to the use of information and other space components are integrally increased 1,5 ... 2,0 times.
The use of space systems allows almost a third to increase the efficiency of the use of the existing military potential of the state. For example, reconnaissance spacecraft improves the accuracy of targeting to 30-50% and increasing the number of enemy objects disclosed by the reconnaissance system to 20-30% or more, and the optical-electronic reconnaissance spacecraft receives over the territory of Ukraine the same number of images just like a reconnaissance aircraft for six months flying over this terrain.
As of the end of last year, more than 130 countries of the world took part in space activities, of which about 40 worked on programs for the use of space tools in systems weapons, and 17 countries had their own space programs. It should be noted that the countries of the so-called Third World are becoming increasingly active in this area.
It is not by chance that the fighting in the Persian Gulf in 1991, thanks to the large-scale use of military space assets, was classified as the "first space war of our era." Space means provided the troops of the anti-Iraqi coalition with timely and reliable data on the grouping of Iraqi troops, their movement, other actions, etc., as well as information about the terrain and weather.
Now the United States is actively creating the National Missile Defense System, which will operate using spacecraft. Already at the end of 2004, the US Air Force Command prepared the doctrine of space warfare: "Air Force Doctrine Document 2-2.1: Counterspace Operations." This document states how the US will have to protect its spacecraft from the enemy and fight with hostile satellites and spacecraft. It is assumed that even spacecraft belonging to neutral countries or commercial structures can become targets for the use of forces and equipment of the US Air Force if their use helps the enemy.
An analysis of foreign experience shows that the process of transition of military-space assets to a new quantitatively-qualitative level of development is now being actively implemented. For example, in the United States, in addition to a complete renewal over the next 10 years of the orbital grouping, the organizational structure of the military-space forces, their forms and methods of application are being improved. At the beginning of the new millennium, a new Joint Strategic Command (hereinafter - USC) was created with headquarters at Offut Air Base (Nebraska). This was due to the need to concentrate, under the unified leadership, of forces and means that provide an effective response to threats to US national security, improve management processes by these forces and increase the efficiency of fulfilling the tasks of global support for the actions of their armed forces. In his operational subordination are strategic ground-based missile forces; strategic bomber aviation; strategic sea-based missile forces; forces and means of warning about a nuclear missile strike; space and missile defense forces and means. It can be stated that in the United States for the first time concentrated means of armed confrontation in one structure, which allow achieving strategic goals in the field of national security.
Do not lag behind the US and European countries, primarily in the use of space tools for intelligence support. The need to create supranational joint bodies and intelligence forces of the European Union was spelled out in the Maastricht Treaty of the Year 1992. In the 1999 year, at a meeting in Cologne, the leaders of the EU countries agreed to create autonomous intelligence resources needed to respond to international crises. Among them is the Space Intelligence Center (“Satellite Center”) in Torrejon, which began operations in 1997. The center does not have its own reconnaissance satellites, but instead its task is to coordinate information flows from national reconnaissance satellites, including the Helios optoelectronic reconnaissance system and, possibly, the Sar-Loupe German radar reconnaissance system.
We should not forget about the activities in the use of space for military purposes by neighboring countries. In particular, Poland carries out space activities in the field of national security on the basis of multi-vector 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 US, Canadian and Indian spacecraft. The country also implements the policy of integration into European space structures, including military ones. If Poland receives 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 in any country.
The activity of our other neighbor, Romania, in the space industry is largely stimulated by its desire for regional leadership. Its activity in implementing its own space programs, in particular in the defensive directions, is constantly growing. By fully implementing the “Space and Security” section of the Second National Plan for Research and Development of Technologies at 2007-2013, YEARS will have the opportunity to provide space support to national security. The cost of implementing these activities has been increased almost five-fold compared with Romania’s first aerospace program 2001-2006 - to $ 196,8 million. 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 government of Turkey is 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 dollars. Six years are allotted for the project implementation, and the launch of the first national satellite is scheduled for 2011 year.
A similar situation is observed in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, where the integration of forces and means, carrying out the tasks of warfare in aerospace space, is being actively pursued. Currently, in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 24 in March 2001 created Space Forces, the basis of which consisted of 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 the space forces and facilities in the composition of the Space Forces there is a separate association of rocket-space defense. It includes a missile attack warning system, an anti-missile defense system, and an outer space monitoring system.
Thus, the emergence of space weapons, the need to prepare outer space as a sphere of military operations, the corresponding objects of space infrastructure, led to the separation of space into a separate sphere of military activity.
Materials used
pentagonus.ru/publ/sozdanie_edinoj_...uza/80-1-0-1279
www.ua-today.com/modules/myarticles...ryid_32981.html
rusk.ru/st.php?idar=7001
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