Russia’s brazen plan to place a nuclear weapon in space could threaten satellites that enable military and civilian communications for the US and other Western allies.
It is unclear what exactly Moscow plans to place in space, but early reports from unnamed US government sources suggested a space-based nuclear bomb would be used to attack satellites in orbit rather than targets to hit the ground.
If a Russian weapon in orbit were to attack US satellites, it could effectively shut down communications in the US and destroy both the civilian communications satellites that transmit cell phone data and the military satellites used to communicate between ships, aircraft and ground forces around the world. world, and even drones.
The US currently has no defenses against such a threat, and if satellite-based communications were destroyed, getting them back online would require maneuvering the remaining satellites into place and launching new ones with rockets – both taking days or weeks.
While nuclear bombs are typically thought of as weapons intended to cause large numbers of casualties and mass destruction of property, the strategy in space appears to be to create an electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
When an atomic bomb goes off, either on land or in space, an EMP is created. This burst of electromagnetic energy can disable or destroy electronic equipment – including satellites.
Although the EMP is a side effect of a nuclear bomb dropped from an airplane, it would likely be the main intended consequence of a nuclear bomb in space.
Russia already has several space-based military assets. These include co-orbital anti-satellite weapons (ASAT), direct-lift ASAT missiles and Starlink communications satellites that it is contracting for its war against Ukraine
The warning signs of such an attack are already there. In 2021, Russia demonstrated its ability to shoot down satellites with missiles launched from Earth, destroying one of its own decommissioned satellites.
And in 2020, Russia fired a projectile into space from a satellite — although Russian officials insisted the projectile was not a weapon.
Based on early reports from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner of Ohio, the new threat appears likely to be a satellite launched into space that can maneuver into place and target other satellites.
Global communications systems such as cell phones, the Internet we use every day, and military communications rely on a series of satellites in orbit around the Earth, and destroying a rival country’s satellites would reduce the ability of a foreign power in the area of defense and emergency aid.
If the satellites were to be turned off, cell phone data could temporarily fail, as could home internet for people in rural areas.
Communication between banks and other companies around the world would be hampered, effectively eliminating the routines of global business.
These effects would likely last for days or weeks until new satellites could be launched to replace the destroyed ones, or until existing satellites could be shifted into Earth’s orbit to fill the gaps.
In statements pressuring the Biden administration to release the intelligence surrounding the anti-satellite weapon, Turner and other officials have noted that the threat is not urgent but that there may be a limited amount of time to prevent Russia from deploying it .
Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri said Wednesday that after reviewing the intelligence, officials are overreacting and he is more afraid of the punishments for disclosing classified material than he is of what the report contained.
The Kremlin said today that the contents of the rumor were false, a “malicious fabrication” by lawmakers and the White House aimed at raising more money to counter Russia, Reuters reported.
Russia has already violated parts of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty unrelated to nuclear weapons, including when it shot down its own 1980s Cosmos 1408 satellite in 2021. At least 1,500 pieces of space debris were released (followed above by a private company Numerical)
However, Russia’s space arsenal does not only consist of weapons. It also includes private communications networks.
Putin has reportedly contracted SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to allow his invading forces to communicate with each other in the country’s war against Ukraine.
According to initial reports, Russia appears to be planning to deploy a co-orbital anti-satellite weapon (ASAT), a satellite that can maneuver close to its targets before deploying a projectile or simply detonating on site.
The move to place a nuclear device in space would also violate the Outer Space Treaty, a 1967 agreement to which the then-Soviet Union was a party. One provision of the treaty is a ban on the circling of nuclear weapons.
In recent years, Russia may have violated another part of this treaty when it shot down its own 1980s Cosmos 1408 satellite in 2021.
The incident created a cloud of dangerous debris – at least 1,500 pieces – that narrowly missed a Chinese satellite and forced astronauts aboard the International Space Station to take shelter in place.
Russia used a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile (DA-ASAT) in that incident. These weapons are launched from launch pads on Earth, directly at a satellite.
That act was explicitly prohibited in the treaty, which stipulates that “states must avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.”
But Russia is not alone in violating this provision: China, India and the US have all also tested ASAT missiles on their own decommissioned satellites.
Both the US and the then Soviet Union have circumvented the limits of this language since the last decade of the Cold War in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.
Following the 1978 discovery of a USSR anti-satellite capability, the US Air Force contracted the development of an air-launched ASAT that would be fired from an F-15 Eagle fighter jet.
This Air Force ASAT, designated the ASM-135, never saw active service, but instead became a historical artifact on display in the National Air and Space Museum.
But President Carter-era ASAT projects ushered in the Reagan administration’s “Star Wars” initiatives, which pushed for a “Strategic Defense Initiative” (SDI) that included plans for both space-based lasers and exotic projectiles .
One SDI proposal for a “hypervelocity” electromagnetic railgun, which was targeted by the Pentagon millions of dollars to research and pay artists to conceptualize, would have used “Lorenz forces” to launch a kinetic weapon at nuclear missiles in mid-flight.
While it is unclear whether such an American-made device ever made it into orbit, the US Navy did spend money on it over $500 million In recent years, defense contractor General Atomics has launched a pilot project to develop similar weapons.
‘The electromagnetic railgun (EMRG),’ as one Navy press release to put it in 2020, “could significantly improve the ability of Navy surface ships to defend themselves against surface vessels.”
Above, an artist’s concept, created during the Reagan presidency, of a US space-based electromagnetic railgun proposed as part of the ‘Strategic Defense Initiative’ or ‘Star Wars’. The targeted device was intended to intercept and destroy nuclear-armed reentry vehicles
But perhaps the 1967 treaty’s signature provision proposed a ban on launching “nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction” into orbit or on “celestial bodies,” or otherwise stationing them “in outer space.” .
While Russia already has several space-based tools in its military arsenal, Wednesday’s cryptic reports from the Senate Intel Committee and other unnamed sources specifically alluded to space-based nuclear weapons as one of the emerging threat options .
Citing a current and a former US official, the New York Times reported that Russia has been quietly working on a space-based nuclear weapon designed to target its rivals’ satellite networks.
Reporting by ABC News added that the vaguely described intelligence came from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Taylor the White House has asked for declassification relates specifically to such orbital nuclear capabilities.
But both current and former officials, said Reutershave also warned that this alleged Russian nuclear weapon was not yet in orbit.