US insists on right to develop arms for outer space

Yahoo! News

The United States and Britain are under pressure to agree to global negotiations on space at the 65-member Geneva forum, where they remain virtually alone in opposing them.

Washington argues a treaty banning production of nuclear bomb-making fissile material should be the forum's next goal.

Last week, China and Russia warned that space-based weapons would pose a threat as great as weapons of mass destruction and pointed to gaps in existing international law. The two powers also back fissile talks under a wider agenda including space.

A 1967 U.N. treaty bans weapons of mass destruction from space, but some experts believe the United States would not shy away from withdrawing from the pact.

In 2002, it pulled out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty to begin deploying a missile defense shield.