U.S. To Oppose Treaty Barring Space Weapons

The insider publication Space News reported a couple of days ago that the U.S. plans to oppose a draft treaty that would ban placing weapons in outer space. Written by China and Russia, the treaty is set to be introduced at next month’s Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Citing China’s anti-satellite test last year, U.S. acting deputy assistant secretary of state for threat reduction, Donald Mahley, remarked that the "existence of opaque Chinese counter-space programs and activities complicates any discussion of a Chinese-Russian treaty proposal and reinforces U.S. opposition to such negotiations."

Somewhere Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is smiling.