Japanese lawmakers voted Friday to allow the military use of space, breaking a decades-old taboo in the officially pacifist country which has an increasingly ambitious space programme. The move will remove any legal obstacles to building more advanced spy satellites.
Israel embarks on a major expansion of its military space capabilities with the upcoming launch of the Ofeq-7 imaging satellite and at least three additional spacecraft by 2011.
Japan is planning to launch the third information gathering satellite in its planned system of four. The satellites will primarily watch North Korea's nuclear program and support its joint missile defense program with the U.S.
The Japanese Government is reviewing its space policy to consider lifting its self-imposed ban on deploying spy satellites. This editorial from the Daily Yomiuri advocates lifting this ban.
Iran said a recently launched satellite would be purely scientific. But a month after its launch -- and only weeks after the president said Israel should be wiped off the map -- the head of Tehran's space program now says the Sina-1 is capable of spying on the Jewish state.
India is building up a satellite-based Military Surveillance and Reconnaissance System that will become operational by 2007, allowing it to keep watch on developments in its area. "The program is in the advanced stages of development and is planned to be operational by 2007," Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Parliament recently.
Japan is actively increasing its role in military space by jointly developing missile defense systems, new generations of military spy satellites, and planning for manned stations on the moon. The author argues that these developments risk igniting an arms race with China.
The authors warn that a proposed change to the U.S. military space policy allowing the deployment offensive anti-satellite weapons and space-based weapons for attacking targets on Earth would initiate a new arms race.
Loren Thompson argues that the real threat to U.S. spy satellites is not from enemy anti-satellite weapons or jamming devices but from irrelevance due to the increasing reconnaissance capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles.
The United States is building a new generation of spy satellites designed to orbit undetected, in a highly classified program that has provoked opposition in closed congressional sessions where lawmakers have questioned its necessity and rapidly escalating price, according to U.S. officials.