‘Killer satellites' beware: Japan unveils first space defense guidelines
The new space domain defense guidelines unveiled by the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Monday outline plans to protect Japanese satellites, while promoting cooperation between the public and private sectors on cutting-edge tech.
The new guidelines are intended to clarify the Defense Ministry's views on which high-tech areas are most in need of investment from the private sector.
'The key is how to incorporate rapidly advancing private-sector technology. The Defense Ministry will continue to promote efforts in this area," Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said after a visit to the Air Self-Defense Force's Space Situation Awareness radar in Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on Monday.
Accompanying the guidelines, the ministry also released its next-generation information and communications strategy, which focuses on the construction of high-tech networks capable of real-time, large-capacity communications and advanced data processing and analysis. The goal is to have this infrastructure in place by fiscal 2029.
The Defense Ministry says the need for real-time detection and tracking of enemy ship and troop movements from space is 'essential' for the Self-Defense Forces to quickly assess combat situations.
While space has long been viewed as a part of the global commons, there are no legal prohibitions to deploying conventional weapons or testing anti-satellite weapons — something that the U.S., China, Russia and India have all done in recent years.
Without naming countries, Nakatani said that a number of nations 'are actively incorporating' new technologies, prompting the emergence of 'new ways of warfare' that could put Japan on a backfoot in outer space.
In order to better combat what the ministry says are the 'threats and risks' associated with the 'advancing militarization of space,' it also aims to introduce what have been termed as 'bodyguard satellites' to protect Japanese assets. Development and demonstration tests are scheduled to be conducted by fiscal 2029, according to the guidelines.
The ministry is also aiming to build capabilities that can disrupt enemies' command-and-control and communications functions, though it did not disclose specifics.
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