Strategic eggs in one basket: Uh oh

Anti-Satellite Missile   (USAF photo)

If Forrest Gump were in charge of United States military operations, he might recall what Mother always said:  Never put all of your eggs in one basket.

Unfortunately, Gump was on a chocolate break while key strategies were employed.  So it is that America ended up with most of her military and civilian eggs in one

vulnerable network.

Back when space was considered a rather benign frontier, the United State launched defenseless satellites galore.  American society has come to rely upon them more and more for everything from Internet to air-traffic control.  In other words, civilization as we know it could instantly cease should these satellites be put out of commission.

Now who would want to do a dastardly deed like that?  Let’s just say that Russia and China are well on their way to developing such capabilities.  China’s Shiyan, for example, “is equipped with a grappling arm that could snatch US satellites right out of orbit.”  Russia has already “deployed what could be multiple kamikaze satellites.”

Perhaps it’s time to forego those chocolates and get down to business.  Rather than focus upon defending existing satellites, why not mitigate society’s vast dependence upon them?  Isn’t there some way to reconfigure energy and information patterns so that they are far less centralized?

      

Resources

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/politics/space-war-us-military-preparations/index.html 

Copyright December 4, 2016 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved