Sir Julian Corbett’s Thoughts on U.S. Hegemony of Low Earth Orbit
Satellites – manmade systems deliberately placed in Earth’s orbit – undeniably benefit humankind, from enhancing scientific understanding, communications, and situational awareness to expanding commerce and development. Correspondingly, low-Earth orbit (LEO) represents the point of entry for the security, economic, and informational benefits humans derive from space because almost every manmade object traveling through this medium – communication satellites, manned vehicles, and planetary probes – first enters LEO en route to its final destination in outer space or on Earth.
For this reason, LEO has become a global commons, an otherworldly line of communication, to governmental …show more content…
In fact, there is growing concern that the debris accumulating in LEO is creating a pollution problem that might render that domain inaccessible in the future. This presents a problem, the equivalent of which might have resembled Corbett’s naval fleet removing icebergs and shipwrecks from the sea while concurrently trying to intercept enemy ships before they reach the open ocean. With this in mind, the unavoidable congestion in LEO, coupled with the vast area required to be guarded to achieve hegemony underscores Corbett’s admonition that, “You cannot conquer [space] because it is not susceptible of ownership”.
Similarly, as tempting as the benefits of a LEO hegemony may be, its cost requires U.S. forces to maintain 100% effectiveness over millions of square miles, in an environment already plagued by the risk of errant debris. Here, Clausewitz’s friction and Corbett’s “fleet in being” should warn strategists that sporadic attack or an otherwise unforeseen incident by a determined (or perhaps suicidal) adversary will inevitably occur, even in space. Given the vastness of LEO, defending everywhere is almost certainly
Satellites – manmade systems deliberately placed in Earth’s orbit – undeniably benefit humankind, from enhancing scientific understanding, communications, and situational awareness to expanding commerce and development. Correspondingly, low-Earth orbit (LEO) represents the point of entry for the security, economic, and informational benefits humans derive from space because almost every manmade object traveling through this medium – communication satellites, manned vehicles, and planetary probes – first enters LEO en route to its final destination in outer space or on Earth.
For this reason, LEO has become a global commons, an otherworldly line of communication, to governmental …show more content…
In fact, there is growing concern that the debris accumulating in LEO is creating a pollution problem that might render that domain inaccessible in the future. This presents a problem, the equivalent of which might have resembled Corbett’s naval fleet removing icebergs and shipwrecks from the sea while concurrently trying to intercept enemy ships before they reach the open ocean. With this in mind, the unavoidable congestion in LEO, coupled with the vast area required to be guarded to achieve hegemony underscores Corbett’s admonition that, “You cannot conquer [space] because it is not susceptible of ownership”.
Similarly, as tempting as the benefits of a LEO hegemony may be, its cost requires U.S. forces to maintain 100% effectiveness over millions of square miles, in an environment already plagued by the risk of errant debris. Here, Clausewitz’s friction and Corbett’s “fleet in being” should warn strategists that sporadic attack or an otherwise unforeseen incident by a determined (or perhaps suicidal) adversary will inevitably occur, even in space. Given the vastness of LEO, defending everywhere is almost certainly