The Biden administration, citing intelligence data, confirmed that Russia is developing anti-satellite weapons — although they are currently «not active and do not pose an immediate threat».
National Security Advisor John Kirby said the administration would monitor the developments throughout the week, but planned to keep the information secret — while media reports «put pressure» on the White House to release the intelligence.
At the same time, Kirby added that although the technology has not yet been deployed and is not active, Russia’s desire to develop anti-satellite weapons «is* a concern». According to some publications, the weapon is allegedly powered by nuclear energy, but Kirby did not confirm (nor deny) this information.
How notes Space News, nuclear-powered satellites have been used for decades by both the United States and Russia. The technology involves the use of a nuclear reactor to generate electricity to power onboard systems and electronic weapons. According to some reports, Russia’s anti-satellite weapons plan to use such electronic weapons as «jammers» to disrupt the operation of other satellites.
«People seem to be confusing nuclear weapons and the satellite with nuclear energy», said defense analyst Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Harrison says that the use of nuclear weapons in space is a clear violation of the Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 by the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, among others. Nowadays, countries seem to continue to adhere to this agreement in order not to create a «real mess that affects all satellites indiscriminately».
«We know this because the US detonated a 1.4 megaton nuclear bomb at an altitude of 400 km in 1962. It charged the Van Allen radiation belts and destroyed about one-third of the satellites in low Earth orbit, including the UK’s first satellite,” Harrison says.
For decades, Russia (and other countries) have been developing weapons that can destroy satellites in low Earth orbit:
- In 2021, Russia tested a land-based missile against one of its satellites in orbit, which created a cloud of debris that NASA said threatened the International Space Station and its crew, as well as several other satellites.
- The United States has similar weapons, but after the Russian tests, the Biden administration promised not to conduct tests that could generate space debris.
- China successfully tested its own anti-satellite weapons in 2007.
- In 2019, India reported successful testing of its own anti-satellite missile. Then a cloud of more than 100 fragments larger than 10 cm was formed, which scattered into orbits ranging from 200 to 1600 km high.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the United States launched six military satellites on a SpaceX rocket — part of a new generation of spacecraft designed to track hypersonic missiles launched by China or Russia, and possibly new missile threats from Iran or North Korea, which are also developing their own hypersonic weapons.