Japan passed three space policy guidance documents on June 13th, including the Basic Plan on Space Policy and its lists of major programs as well as the Space Security Initiative. Being Japan’s first space security strategy, the initiative points out the present space security landscape and challenges. Also laid out are ways to address the challenges and the goals of the initiative. China launched a missile and destroyed its own weather satellite on January 2007. Alarmed by the incident, Japan enacted the Basic Space Law and removed a parliament resolution in 1969 that banned the military use of space in May 2008. The Strategic Headquarters for Space Development was established as the highest decision-making body for Japan’s space development in accordance with the Basic Space Law. It is headed by the prime minister with members consisting of all cabinet officials.
The Basic Plan on Space Policy: regarding space as an operational domain
Japan launched its first Basic Plan on Space Policy in accordance with the Basic Space Law in June 2009. The second Basic Plan was adopted in January 2013 and explicitly stated the defense missions of Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) with the use of space. Japan released its first National Security Strategy (NSS) in December 2013 and made specific plans for ways to ensure defense security by using space. The National Defense Program Guidelines for 2013 first designated space as a key area for defense, hoping to build a Dynamic Joint Defense Force. The third Basic Plan on Space Policy was an action plan for realizing the goal.
It was unveiled in January 2015 in view of an increasingly severe security environment and described “ensuring space security” as a foremost policy goal in Japan’s space development. Main task was to strengthen space situation awareness (SSA) ability to enhance the security of space facilities and use data acquired from space and intelligence from analyzing the data to improve the military capabilities of the JSDF. The fourth Basic Plan was released in June 2020. It adopted the threat awareness in the U.S. National Space Strategy unveiled in 2018 and regarded space as an operational domain. Japan established the Space Operations Squadron and Space Operations Group specifically focusing on SSA missions and laid a foundation for launching a US. -Japan space alliance in the future.
Establish a US. -Japan space alliance
At the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee (known as the “2+2” Meeting) held in Washington D.C. on June 21st, 2011, the two countries for the first time confirmed their cooperation in space defense and specific areas for promoting military cooperation in space. The U.S. and Japan have since successively established mechanisms for space-related dialogues. Moreover, Japan has participated in the Global Sentinel exercise organized by the U.S. military since 2016 to strengthen the ability of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) to operate the SSA system. The “2+2” Meeting released the Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation in April 2015, and space security was regarded as a key area for their defense cooperation. The two sides made clear their intention to cooperate in strengthening the resilience of their space assets and their SSA ability.
Japan’s revised National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG) unequivocally stated in December 2018 that achieving superiority in new domains (space, cyberspace and electromagnetic spectrum) is critical to Japan’s existence as a sovereign nation. The guidelines argued that it is essential to organically fuse capabilities in new domains (space, cyberspace and electromagnetic spectrum) and traditional domains (land, sea and air) to build a multi-domain defense force to address cross-domain threats. According to Setsuko Aoki, a professor at Keio University, the fourth Basic Plan reflected the need to build a multi-domain defense force set forth by the 2018 NDPG and strengthen the JSDF’s military capabilities to address challenges from the new domains (space, cyberspace and electromagnetic spectrum).
The preamble of the fourth Basic Plan states that the role of space systems becomes more important than ever in defense. Countries need to counter threats posed by anti-satellite weapons. Some countries are also actively developing ways to attack space facilities. These developments further underscore the importance and urgency of maintaining space security. Apart from cooperation with allied and friendly countries proposed by the Basic Plan, the plan’s lists of major programs include the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), seen as Japan’s version of the GPS system, X-band defense satellite communications networks, spy satellites and operationally responsive small satellite systems to implement the nine measures of ensuring space security.
Three strategic paths to ensure space security
According to the new National Security Strategy adopted by the Fumio Kishida Cabinet in December 2022, Japan will formulate a space security strategy that identifies challenges to space security and ways to respond, the strategy will be reflected in the Basic Plan on Space Policy. In the meantime, the National Defense Strategy (NDS), renamed from the National Defense Program Guidelines, also makes clear that Japan will develop near-real-time information gathering, communication and positioning capabilities by utilizing satellite constellations. These underscore that capabilities in space is critical to enhancing defense capability, in particular the ability to launch counterstrikes against the areas where attacks are launched. Japan therefore adopted the fifth Basic Plan on Space Policy and its first Space Security Initiative.
The new Basic Plan maintains the concept of the third version and still designates ensuring space security as a foremost task. It also sets forth three topics, i.e., space security through intelligence gathering by spy satellites and satellite constellations, building SSA abilities to safeguard the security of space assets and ensuring a virtuous cycle in the security and space industries. The Space Security Initiative states that Japan’s space security goals are bolstering peace and prosperity for the nation, enhancing the security of its people and joining hands with allies and friendly countries to maintain the stable use of space and freedom of entering and exiting space. The initiative also presents three strategic paths: security from space, security of space assets and nurturing and developing the space industry.
The first path is to expand the use of space systems to safeguard national defense and security, including ensuring a broad-ranged, frequent and high-precision intelligence gathering posture, ensuring an information and communication posture to counter eavesdropping and interference and ensuring a large-scale and flexible space transportation posture to strengthen the role of satellite positioning in addressing missile threats. The second path is to ensure the safe and stable use of space, including strengthening SAA and other capabilities, managing the lifespan of satellites to facilitate long-term and economical use, enhancing the ability to respond to unexpected incidents and actively contributing to the formulation of international norms. The third path is to secure a virtuous cycle in the development of the security and space industries, including implementing the newly adopted Space Technology Strategy, strengthening cooperation between the government and related institutions such as the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to flexibly use innovative technologies of the private sector. Simply put, the goals of Japan’s first Space Security Initiative is to establish a space framework that safeguards national defense and security through the first and second paths, while the third path is to support and ensure an early implementation of the first and second paths.
(Hsien-Sen Lin, Professor of Department of East Asian Studies at National Taiwan Normal University)
(Translated to English by Cindy Li)
