According to the Union of Concerned scientists satellite database there are over 2200 18 satellites orbiting Earth. While most of them are used for commercial purposes, there is an important number of these spacecraft which are used for military purposes by countries struggling to keep their grip on to international geopolitical scene.
While Iran was left behind for such capacities for the past years, on April 22nd 2020, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps successfully launched a military satellite into space, triggering critics and fears for a misuse of such a military technology capacity. Indeed, senior US officials have been warning that the same technology used to put a satellite into space is also used to make long-range missiles capable of hitting the US territory. While critics have been made concerning the threat Iran might pose with its capacity of using ballistic technology to put a satellite into space some, other countries have had such technologies long before.
5 – Israel
Israel has at least eight military satellites. The Ofeq is Israel’s first reconnaissance satellites, to be first launched in 1988. Israeli space research programs are coordinated by the Israeli Space Agency which is a governmental body. Its mission is composed of programs with scientific, military and commercial goals. Outside military satellites, Israel has a number of important civil satellites.
4 – France
France has at least 8 military satellites. The French space program has been pursuing civil and military space activities since the 1970s, in a multinational framework notably within the European Space Agency, which coordinates the European space program. The French military also operates a constellation of three Syracuse satellites which are used for surveillance and other missions, but mainly for communication between the mainland and French troops deployed abroad.
Yet France has announced a further ambitious project which concerns another generation of Syracuse satellites. Indeed on July 25th 2019, French Minister of Defense declared that France is planning a new space program for satellites which will be equipped with machine guns and laser weapons. The project is expected to complete by 2030. Apart it’s military satellites, France has dozens of civil satellites in space.
3 – China
China has at least 68 military satellites. The Chinese space program has been active since the 1950s. China’s military satellites are named Yaogan. They are particularly used for communication, surveillance, spying, as well as for intelligence gathering. While some other nations get into corporations for their space program, China owns and runs its satellites with its own Space agency.
2 – Russia
Russia has at least 74 military satellites. The country started its military space station program in the 1960s during the period of the Soviet Union. Russia has been a major space mission actor, competing with the United States.
Russia first ran a program known as Almaz, which was particularly using space stations instead of satellites. From 1973 to 1976, the program established three stations named Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5, before being abandoned due to expensive costs compared to new generations of satellites. Yet Russia has developed new automatic military satellites with missions such as spying, surveillance, communication. On December 2nd, 2017, Russia launched a new satellite which is capable of destroying off missiles attacking the mainland. Such a new generation satellite is capable of detecting, tracking and destroying enemy missiles.
1 – The United States
And yes you guessed it ! The United States is the nation with the most military satellites in space. Indeed the US has at least 123 military satellites. It is in the 1950s that the U.S. first formal military satellite projects were set and launched. The first military satellites missions were for photographic reconnaissance. Such a program included the development of a number of sub programs among which the Corona.
The first satellite Discoverer 1, was launched on February 28, 1959. The mission was undertaken under codename Discover, as many other afterwards. While NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is responsible for the civilian space program as well as Aeronautics and aerospace research, the US military space units have been engaged in operating, managing and planning strategies for space superiority. Yet it is important to remember that outside military ones’, the U.S. has several hundred satellites in space.
Other nations with military satellites include India, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Canada, Algeria, Mexico, Australia, Chile, and lately Iran.
Leave a Reply