How a Loophole in the Outer Space Treaty allows Countries to Place this WMD in Orbit

How a loophole in the Outer Space Treaty allows countries to place this WMD in orbit

Space is a peaceful place today. We don’t have massive nuclear weapons deployed by different countries pointing at each other. But this isn’t just by chance. This is a result of years of diplomacy that led to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. As of 2021, a total of 11 countries are party to the treaty, and it includes all major space-faring countries.
The Outer Space Treaty sets out ground rules to stop countries from militarizing space and only using it for the betterment of mankind. This includes deploying Weapons of Mass destruction like Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.
But the treaty doesn’t ban placing conventional weapons in space. This potentially allows a country to use highly destructive attack tactics such as kinetic bombardment. A kinetic weapon is a weapon that doesn’t have any payload. It simply uses its kinetic energy to embark destruction on its target. While it may not intuitively make sense how a simple tungsten rod dropped from space can be destructive. Kinetic weapons such as these can cause destruction comparative to that of a tactical nuke. And currently, the Outer Space Treaty doesn’t directly ban the use of such weaponry.

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