'Space being weaponised': A purely civilian system can be 'repurposed' for military capabilities

Erin Ogunkeye is pleased to welcome Mélusine Lebret, Researcher in the Defence, Security & Justice research group at RAND Europe. According to Lebret, the growing militarisation of space cannot be understood simply by asking whether a satellite is civilian, military, or “weaponised.” And Lebret argues that militarization does not eliminate the necessity of cooperation. The emerging space-security order is therefore defined by an unusual tension: states may increasingly prepare to compete and potentially fight in space while remaining structurally dependent on one another to keep space usable at all.