Military use of space and the Space Law

The use of space for military purposes is not a new phenomenon, but its scope has expanded nowadays. The USA, Russia and China have military and civilian units and institutions specialized in space research. Extreme caution is taken to prevent the competition between these states from spilling over into space, but it is clear that if the balance between the countries is disrupted, space will become an area of military competition between the parties. In this context, these three countries and other states involved in the space race are developing their space research capacities, including space weapons. This issue is important as the world becomes increasingly dependent on satellite-centric services and technologies in areas such as communications, transportation, weather detection and navigation in general. However, since Space Law is a new and developing branch of law, there are deficiencies in the existing legal infrastructure. The legal text that draws the general framework for Space Law is the Outer Space Treaty (OST), which came into force in 1967. The existing legal gaps arise from the structure of this agreement. Therefore, there is a need for new agreements and texts that will support cooperation between states and strengthen the legal framework.