If the United States hopes to continue as a leader in space, it must invest now in better earth-to-orbit technology by replacing obsolete launch facilities while also developing a new class of more robust and reliable vehicles. From Earth to Orbit provides strategies to reduce launch costs while increasing the reliability and resiliency of vehicles. It also recommends continued improvements for the Space Shuttle Orbiter and its subsystems and the development of a Space Transportation Main Engine (STME).

This book debates and discusses the present and future of Disruptive Technologies in general and military Disruptive Technologies in particular. Its primary goal is to discuss various critical and advanced elucidations on strategic technologies. The focus is less on extrapolating the future of technology in a strict sense, and more on understanding the Disruptive Technology paradigm. It is widely accepted that technology alone cannot win any military campaign or war. However, technological superiority always offers militaries an advantage. More importantly, technology also has a great deterrent value. Hence, on occasion, technology can help to avoid wars. Accordingly, it is important to effectively manage new technologies by identifying their strategic utility and role in existing military architectures and the possible contributions they could make towards improving overall military capabilities. This can also entail doctrinal changes, so as to translate these new technologies into concrete advantages.

This timely resource provides a history of the development of space weapons and warfare strategies and a comprehensive reference guide to the growing literature on the subject. Space Warfare and Defense: A Historical Encyclopedia and Research Guide provides comprehensive coverage of the development of space as a possible arena for warfare, exploring the military uses of space—past, present, and future—and specific details of actual space weapons systems. The encyclopedia spans the breadth of U.S. military space policy; comparable programs in the Soviet Union, China, and the European Union; and the full array of international agreements designed to regulate the military uses of space. In addition, the encyclopedia includes an extensive reference guide (nearly 40 percent of the book) directing readers to the essential literature on space weapons and defense systems produced by the United States, other governments, research institutions, and additional sources. At a time when space is becoming an increasingly important place of military competition and potential conflict, Space Warfare and Defense dispels the myths and examines the realities of what may become humanity's ultimate battlefield.

This book evaluates the institutional environments of China and the United States, and the West more broadly, and how they affect their trading relationship, with specific emphasis on intellectual property theft and other allegations of unfair competition. The economic and political characteristics of the two countries affect the balance of power in their trading relationship, with ramifications far beyond jobs and output. The major theme is China’s ability to free ride on Western institutions through intellectual property theft and extortion. This free riding is far more than just infringing patents and reaping profits; it creates a combination of incentives for political pressures in the West that diminish the free market and liberal Western values. The result is the classic result of free riding – underprovision, or degeneration, of the Western institutions that made the West prosperous and free. At the same time, China’s economic might, military prowess, and global soft power increase, often with deleterious effects for freedom and free markets. This book is distinctive because it integrates public choice ideas about economic institutions, state action, and strategic behavior into international trade. It also takes account of the economic characteristics of China and the West and explains why they present a situation that is fundamentally different from other trade disputes. Institutions and political influence are central to this book’s analysis of trade, which can be more dangerous and more disguised than the welfare gains from trade. Providing a concise and lucid distillation of pressing issues, this book is critical reading for scholars studying trade with China and its effects on both global and Western innovation, economic output, soft power, and freedom more broadly.

Annotation Leading researchers provide a cohesive treatment of the complex issues in high-speed propulsion, as well as introductions to the current capabilities for addressing several fundamental aspects of high-speed vehicle propulsion development. Includes more than 380 references, 290 figures and tables, and 185 equations.