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Given the prospect of Russia deploying nuclear weapons in space, it’s understandable why some people fill in the blanks and imagine an apocalyptic orbital raid.
That’s the nightmarish prophecy that lawmakers tried to erase Wednesday after news leaked that U.S. intelligence officials had received information about Russian war preparations on the high-altitude frontier.
It all started Wednesday morning with a cryptic statement from Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Turner cited intelligence information the committee will begin sharing with all members of Congress about “significant national security threats.”
National security officials said the subject of Turner’s statement was Russia’s emerging anti-satellite weapons systems, including nuclear technology.
But those are the only details released about the national security threat Wednesday. Some media outlets described the Russian program as an anti-satellite nuclear weapons system. The New York Times reported The Russian weapons system is not currently in orbit, but it is something the Russian military would like to deploy.
serious escalation
The use of anti-satellite nuclear weapons in space would significantly increase tensions between Russia and the United States. If Russia used it in space, the US military would not be able to prevent it. If a nuclear explosion were to occur in orbit, many satellites would be destroyed as collateral damage. It would also pose the most serious threat to peacekeeping in space since the dawn of the space age and violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which bans nuclear weapons in orbit.
Before getting too carried away with the story, it is important to note the ambiguity of national security officials’ statements regarding Russia’s anti-satellite program. Russia’s anti-satellite weapons may have lost some of their features after information was released to the public on Wednesday. In his statement, Turner called on President Biden to declassify information on emerging national security issues and allow a wide range of people, including U.S. allies, to openly discuss how to respond to threats. I asked for it.
there was Evidence that has already been made public Russian officials said they are slowly developing a nuclear-powered spacecraft that can engage in electronic warfare to jam or disrupt enemy satellite communications. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched more than 30 military satellites powered by nuclear reactors.
Such a program could theoretically generate enough power to support a high-power jammer that could communicate with a variety of U.S. spacecraft, including spy satellites, GPS satellites, and even SpaceX’s commercial Starlink Internet satellites. The focus will be on the use of nuclear technology to
They are all the cornerstone of the U.S. satellite fleet, providing intelligence data to the Pentagon and White House, supporting civilian travel and precision bombing, and connecting millions of subscribers to broadband internet services. . The Starlink network was not only useful to civilians and the U.S. military, it was also essential to keeping lines of communication open between Ukrainian military units in the fight against Russian aggression.
In 2022, Russian government officials say commercial satellites like Starlink will May be a “legitimate target” If they are involved in the Ukraine war. In February 2022, on the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a satellite internet network covering territory controlled by the US company Viasat went down. Western countries are blaming Russia.
The top commander of the U.S. Space Force said last year that the Pentagon could be asked to protect U.S.-owned commercial satellites from attack.
