How to keep outer space weapons-free

Jessica West Featured, Ploughshares Monitor, Space Security

The history of arms control in outer space reads like a success story. Outer space is one of the few domains of human activity in which the focus has been on prevention. Although military satellites that provide communications, remote sensing, navigation, and timing services once dominated space and continue to provide essential military services, their operations have long been considered peaceful. Those of us working in space security say that space is “militarized but not weaponized.”

The future of war: Missiles and space as seen by the United States in 2019

Jessica West Conventional Weapons, Emerging Technologies, Ploughshares Monitor, Space Security

Two new policy documents released in the United States cast light on what future war could look like, especially the central and entwined roles of missiles and outer space.