Max E Lantz

Spacepower Is Inherently Global...Not! Max E Lantz

Publisher Marketing: The development of spacepower has been heavily influenced from its inception to support the Cold War. Development of doctrine defining spacepower, which initially received a significant amount of attention, all but ceased with the veil of secrecy that was placed over all but the most benign NASA space programs. The development of spacepower centered on what David Lupton refers to as the "sanctuary doctrine" in his work, On Space Warfare. The fundamental tenant of the sanctuary doctrine is "the primary value of space forces is their capability to 'see' within the boundaries of sovereign states." Space became the answer for the United States of America to observe how the former USSR was posturing its nuclear forces. As access to space improved, the Unites States used space to further support its own nuclear forces through global communication, weather, navigation and timing, as well as reconnaissance. The Cold War had an overwhelming effect on the initial development of space systems, a number of which are still in operational use today. Space systems were developed with the "global" nuclear war in mind, and were designed to support the highest levels of military and national leadership. Recently, the phrase "spacepower is inherently global" has entered into the lexicon of space professionals. While there is some truth to this phrase when describing the Cold War "sanctuary" uses of space, it is not valid when describing the recent efforts under Joint Warfighting Space, as well as emerging deployable theater space control capabilities. New space capabilities are being developed (e.g., the Counter Communication System) which will provide a Joint Force Commander (JFC) with the ability to create regional spacepower effects. Holding onto the dogma of "space is inherently global" invites a global commander to control the space effects, while the JFC controls the air, land, and maritime effects-violating the preeminent tenet of Unity of Command.