Fearing ‘Space Pearl Harbor’: US could miss out on chance to ban weapons in space

‘Russia and China have updated a draft treaty for the upcoming UN General Assembly, which seeks to ban deployment of weapons in space. The US is skeptical of such initiatives and prefers to develop new assets like the X-37B space plane.
The draft treaty was first presented in 2008 and updated for the second time for the session. Russia and China want to ban deployment of conventional weapons in space and prohibit the use of force and the threat of use of force against spacecraft.
The initiative is favored by an overwhelming majority of UN members, as evidenced by previous votes at the UN General Assembly. But the most advanced space nation – the US – has been opposing it, despite a long-standing concern in the US that another nation may attack its satellites to cripple America economically and militarily.
The US pursues a ‘wait and see’ policy, neither rushing to weaponize space nor missing a chance to develop new technologies which could be used for space warfare. For example, just last week it launched the Boeing X-37B – a drone spacecraft with potential for space warfare – on its fifth mission.’
Read more: Fearing ‘Space Pearl Harbor’: US could miss out on chance to ban weapons in space