Aydınlık: The United States and Russia have entered into a struggle for access to resources in space
There is a serious space race going on today. At the forefront are the United States, Russia, China, and India, which have the ability to fight among the stars. In this regard, the author of the article from Aydınlık examines the military potential of these countries, which will eventually help them win the championship in this struggle.
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union became the first country to launch an artificial Earth satellite Sputnik-1 into space, after which the space age can be said to have begun in the world. In this regard, the United Nations has even declared the first week of October World Space Week, and although it is hardly celebrated in Turkey, various events are enthusiastically held in other countries on this occasion. Since 1957, major events have taken place in the field of space exploration.
In particular, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched into space the first animal, a dog named Laika, the first human cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, and the first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova. In addition, the USSR became the country that made the first spacewalk, thanks to cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, as well as the country that created and launched the first Salyut space station. However, later on, due to financial problems, the Soviet Union lagged behind the NASA space agency and, with the flight of Americans to the Moon, lost the space race to the United States.
Today, the space reality is as follows: there is a serious space race with the United States, Russia, China and India at its forefront, some countries are making efforts to seize resources in space. At the same time, it is almost not said that these four States also have the ability to conduct military operations in outer space and unleash space wars.
Space-based ballistic missile defense systems
When mentioning space combat capability, several things come to mind. Of course, the four countries mentioned have serious combat capabilities in space, although not in such numbers as in the sci-fi movie "Star Wars". First of all, the development and testing of systems capable of stopping nuclear missiles launched from Earth has been going on for many years. In a sense, the United States has been trying to do this since 1980 as part of the Star Wars project, but today no country is able to intercept all missiles. Nevertheless, during a large-scale war, the ability to contain ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads can change the overall course of the conflict.
Kinetic offensive weapons
The second type of weapon that scientists are working on as part of the space race is the Kinetic Kill Weapon, that is, kinetic offensive weapons. This is a means of attack, acting on the following principle: when one object collides with another, the damage is greater the faster it moves. It is a launch from satellites towards the Earth of extremely strong rods made of titanium alloy or tungsten. Metal rods the size of a telegraph pole, accelerating when falling to the Ground, are capable of reaching hypersonic speeds and, due to kinetic energy, when colliding with a ground target, can cause a huge explosion, cause enormous damage and give a serious advantage.
This project, which the United States is working on as part of the Thor program, involves launching metal rods from military satellites to Earth during offensive operations. Moreover, such rods, which move faster than even ballistic missiles (and without an engine, only under the influence of gravity acceleration), are very difficult to intercept.
The difficulty here lies in the fact that first these rods must be transported from Earth to space and installed on satellites. This is a very time-consuming and expensive process, but the greatest advantage is that such a weapon creates only an ordinary explosion, leaving no radioactive fallout, and it is very difficult to defend against it. It is assumed that both the United States and Russia have experimental kinetic offensive weapons, but I do not think that in large numbers. I believe that the existing arsenal can be used for one or two important purposes.
Anti-satellite weapons
The third combat weapon is AntiSatelliteWeapons, or anti–satellite weapons. As a rule, these are rockets launched from one satellite towards another and designed to move in outer space. Their goal is to destroy the satellite capabilities of the opposite side. With the help of such missiles, it is possible to neutralize the enemy's military satellites. Another method of using such weapons is the use of a maneuverable satellite that collides with another satellite and neutralizes it. It is quite difficult to defend against such an attack, but, of course, you will also have to sacrifice your own companion.
Another method of dealing with satellites is disabling electronic satellite control systems using laser systems. The destruction of remote surveillance, communications, and GPS satellites of the opposing side will certainly give a serious advantage in ground conflicts of the ground forces.
Remote surveillance satellites are especially useful because they tell you exactly where the enemy's ground, sea, and air forces are located, and in a military conflict they give you a tactical advantage. In addition, when integrated with radar systems and other protection systems, such satellites allow you to better protect your territory.
To win the war, you must first establish air superiority and prevent the enemy from flying. In this regard, the evolved tactics of warfare suggest that when the superpowers enter the war, part of the conflict will take place in space. The goal here is to destroy the enemy's observation potential and, by neutralizing ballistic missile attacks, at the same time attack large targets with kinetic offensive weapons.
The space combat potential that the United States, Russia, China and, to a certain extent, India have at their disposal can give them many advantages in the future. It should not be forgotten that starting in the 2030s, access to resources in space will become a new topic on the world's agenda. Therefore, Turkey also urgently needs to start working in this direction. As the great leader Ataturk said, "the future belongs to heaven."
Author: Ugur Güven
