Gp Capt Ajey Lele (Retd.) is a Consultant at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Click here for detailed profile.
Over the last few years, realizing the dangers of Chinese monopoly, countries like India, Japan and Vietnam have started collaborating in Rare Earth Elements, while North America countries are planning to increase investments in this sector.
A decision to conduct an ASAT test has to be a nuanced one considering the strategic advantages such a test could offer and the diplomatic elbow room that it would give during negotiations on a space arms control mechanism.
Ajey Lele argues that, in its present avatar, the International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities is not capable of realizing its stated aim fully because it lacks an accountability mechanism.
The EU’s Code of Conduct has been advertised as a mechanism to preserve the sustainability and security of space, but it is difficult to comprehend how a non-binding and voluntary mechanism could help achieve this.
There is an ongoing global competition to gain dominance in the space and cyber domains; while going it alone might be the best policy, collaboration with clearly laid out guidelines and end-goals is not without its benefits.
Without getting into any a debate about whether the satellite launch was actually a missile test or not, the US should make an offer to help North Korea launch a satellite in order to foster sustained engagement with Pyongyang
Instead of decrying the edge China has achieved over India, it is important to critically evaluate the actual benefits that accrue from manned space flights and the Space Station.
Within the ever expanding genre of conflict and security-related literature, there is a less investigated field that pertains to futuristic technologies and the harnessing of science for the purposes of mass destruction and targeted warfare. This is the arena of space, the battlefield of major powers and the arena for power expansion into the extra-terrestrial.
Challenging China’s Rare Earth Monopoly
Over the last few years, realizing the dangers of Chinese monopoly, countries like India, Japan and Vietnam have started collaborating in Rare Earth Elements, while North America countries are planning to increase investments in this sector.