The legal and policy environment of a military RLV

Abstract

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) sees its future in the eventual development and deployment of a reusable launch vehicle (RLV). As the Service begins long-range planning to bring a RLV on line in the 2010-15 time frame, it must also plan how such a vehicle can be used: not just from a technological point of view, but from a political one. U.S. policy, international law, arms control treaties, and other forces will shape the way this new system can be deployed and what it can do. For example, can a RLV overfly other nations without consent? Does it make a difference if the RLV is carrying weapons? What kinds of weapons and missions are allowable? Under existing treaties and laws, some limitations do exist. Accordingly, technological and political development must proceed simultaneously. The Air Force must develop the vehicle within an understanding of its permissible uses, while the national leadership must consider what uses for a RLV should be protected or facilitated as law and policy are developed. Only with this comprehensive approach can we make the informed decisions needed to build the military's most important system. Introduction: The RLV Concept The U. S. Air Force, according to its leaders, is beginning a transition from an to an and and eventually to a space and air force. For any arm, the key to operating in a new medium is the transportation that will allow routine, affordable access to the area of operations. Accordingly, the Air Force has embarked on a technology development program which will lead to deploying some type of reusable launcher. At this writing, the idea is far from having a firm technological outline, and its formal name has not been established. For convenience, this paper refers to all such concepts under the unofficial name military Whatever its specific design, the future RLV will be a fully reusable spacecraft allowing the kind of access to that airplanes currently provide for missions in the lower atmosphere. According to Air Force Space Command's Long Range Plan, the Service's RLV will be capable of a range of missions in addition to simple Earth-to-orbit transportation. Such transportation is, in the USAF lexicon, part of the Space Support mission area. The Service's other mission areas include Force Applications (application of force from against terrestrial targets), Force Enhancement (providing services such as intelligence which enhance terrestrial forces), and Space Control (maintaining freedom of flight for friendly spacecraft while denying it to adversaries). We will examine each of these mission areas and determine what constraints, if any, are imposed by international treaties, laws, and national policy. Military RLVs and the Status of Space There are no provisions in existing treaties or international law which would prohibit deployment of a RLV. The use in of military-owned vehicles and astronauts has long been accepted. Most projections for RLV designs assume the vehicle will have the capability to carry some type of armament (although this capability may or may not be used). Hypothetically, this could include weapons for use against targets or targets on Earth. The specific implications of these possibilities are dealt with below. While the RLV by itself presents no problems, weapons, of whatever type, complicate the subject. It is argued by some disarmament proponents that the fundamental statement of