The growing importance of space at the military level opens challenges not only for the world order but also for our national defense. The future dependence of modern societies on space infrastructure, fueled also by the decisions of the private sector to provide more and more services via satellite, brings with it new challenges for national security. Due to the dual nature of space infrastructure, any hostile actions would significantly affect both military and civilian capabilities.
The space race has never stopped but in recent years it has accelerated again. Globally, in 2019 the United States opened a new armed force, the "Space Force", and NATO has declared space as an operational domain for the first time (while in the United States it was already there for many years). Recently then, Trump has signed an executive order to begin mineral exploitation on the Moon, also awaiting future explorations on Mars. For its part, China wants to dominate the area between the Earth and the Moon, known as the "Cislunar space", to then build a permanent base on the moon. In fact, already in 2018 the Joint Staff of the Chinese armed forces declared the "spatial superiority". And "last" Russia which among other things has recently tried out an anti-satellite missile designed to destroy satellites in low Earth orbit.
So while the world is focused on the "decoupling" between the United States and China caused by the Coronavirus and the increasing competition to grab world hegemony, the space opens up as a possible further area of XNUMXst century rivalry.
The competition, even if still not cold war, between the USA and China is in fact fought with various forms of power: thehard power economic-military, the soft power of attraction, it sharp power especially with theinfowar and soon space space will also open. This race is not only for the primacy on an economic level (which according to estimates will be up to China in a few years) or for the primacy on a strategic level (which for many years will be firmly in American hands) but to have more spheres of influence on the level geopolitical. For this reason, the recent crisis of COVID-19 has seen a competition between the powers to those who helped Europe most, and it could also be repeated for Africa if the virus spreads to the continent in the second wave in the autumn. Indeed, Europe and Africa seem to be the main areas of influence where competition between great powers will take place.
But the real challenge for planetary hegemony could take place, in the not too distant future, also in space, given the growing militarization beyond the atmosphere. On the other hand, let us remember that the end of the USSR for the economic-military crisis also came for the attempt to counter Ronald Regan's "Star War". Even in this competition there will be attempts to appropriate new areas of influence, first of all Europe, with the excuse of the space industry, and in this regard Italy must be very careful.
But where is our country?
As it says Report on information security policy 2019, “Italy boasts in the sector (aerospace) a huge tradition as regards technologies: today we are one of the few countries to have a complete aerospace chain and, therefore, an independent access to space. " Il project of the pitcher Vega for example, born in Italy but adopted by the European Space Agency, it is one of the most evident examples of national space capabilities.
The Prime Minister's office has also just published the "National Security Strategy for Space"(July 2019) outlining the Italian position in the new spatial scenario: the renewed importance of space "It offers new opportunities and new challenges also for space powers such as Italy that have to respond to these changes, both in terms of market offer and protection of national Defense and security interests". The same strategy describes five objectives to be achieved:
a) guarantee the safety of space infrastructures (in the two Anglo-Saxon meanings of safety and security) to be considered enabling of all national infrastructures;
b) protect national security also through space, ensuring their access and use of the related capabilities in any situation;
c) strengthen and protect the institutional, industrial and scientific sector, also for the purpose of protecting national classified information;
d) promote spatial governance internationally able to guarantee the sustainability, safety and security of space activities;
e) ensure that the development of private initiatives in the space sector (upstream and downstream) is consistent with the pre-eminent interests of the country.
The attention of the Italian Defense towards the new operational domain is also evidenced by the relevance reserved to the space in the "Defense chief of staff concept"Presented by General Enzo Vecciarelli and the creation of theGeneral Office Space. Placed directly under the defense chief of staff, this office will have the task of defining the spatial strategy, organizing the functions relating to space and laying the foundations for the creation of a more complex military structure, dedicated exclusively to space, or the Space Operations Joint Force Command.
A first step that, despite the recognized Italian space skills, it could be hampered by political instability and scarce defense resources. Failure to raise awareness among citizens and policy-makers about the risks associated with failure to monitor space could be detrimental to the correct development of the required skills. Sensitizing, therefore, public opinion and political decision-makers about the new risks related to the lack of space protection should be a priority objective for the Defense. As we have seen for the recent Coronavirus crisis and in general for biological threats, without the perception of the danger by citizens and policy makers there are no resources and plans useful for the prevention and management of emergencies.
Italy is already at the forefront of the space industry and must maintain this excellence, without asking for help from foreign powers, but by investing in its industries and increasingly cooperating with the European Space Agency and NATO. Cooperation in the NATO / EU context will in fact be very important, first of all to allow a relatively less onerous development of these capacities and to convey an idea of responsible use of space, secondly, to protect Italy from current Asian attempts to "help ”Our country to develop infrastructures, for now only terrestrial but which in the near future will also be spatial, in the new frontier of world competition.
Photo: ESA / China National Space Administration / Ministry of Defense
