
The U.S. government has assessed that Russia recently launched a “counterspace weapon” into orbit that could be used to attack satellites, U.S. officials said this week, adding to concerns about a new frontier for conflict between the nations.
Pentagon spokesman Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Tuesday that it had assessed Moscow had launched a satellite into low Earth orbit last week that was “likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit.”
“Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a U.S. government satellite,” Ryder said, noting that it could pose a possible threat to a U.S. government satellite and would continue to be monitored. “We’ll continue to balance the need to protect our interests in space with our desire to preserve a stable and sustainable space environment.”
The Kremlin dismissed the claims on Wednesday, suggesting that its recent space launch had not broken international law. “We are not violating anything,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. “We have repeatedly advocated bans on the launch of any weapons into space; unfortunately, these initiatives have been rejected, including by the United States of America.”
The tension has been sparked by a Russian launch carried out on May 17. Russia’s Ministry of Defense and state space agency Roscosmos posted statements last week confirming that Russia’s Air and Space Forces had carried out a launch on May 17 of what it described as a Soyuz 2.1b launch vehicle from Russia’s Plesetsk cosmodrome in the far north of the country.
Experts said the competing claims were inconclusive. “Both sides are quite ambiguous in what they’re saying,” said Bleddyn Bowen, associate professor of international relations at the University of Leicester who has authored books on space warfare and astropolitics, adding that there was a lack of concrete detail from both sides on the Russian launch.
“All we know is that [the satellite] it’s been put into a certain orbital flight path,” which presumably clashes with the United States’ interests, Bowen said. This could present a risk of “collision,” but “I wouldn’t rush to call it an antisatellite weapon yet,” he added.
However, the dispute shows the growing debate about warfare in space. Bowen said that with powers such as China, India, Russia and the United States active in space, “the risk of space warfare happening is very real.”
Russia and the United States have proposed rival resolutions to the United Nations Security Council in recent weeks, though neither passed. Russia vetoed a U.S.-led resolution last month that Washington said was designed to prevent a nuclear arms race in space.
The Security Council failed to pass a Russia-backed proposal, co-sponsored by China, that aimed to prevent “for all time” the use of any weapons in space on Monday. Ahead of the vote, U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood accused Russia of “gaslighting” on the issue and stated Russia had launched likely “counterspace weapons” into low orbit in 2019, 2022 and last week.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the results of the vote on the draft U.N. resolution “disappointing” on Tuesday and accused the United States of militarizing space.
“The United States and its allies, despite all the steps we have taken to consider their proposals … opposed our constructive, comprehensive initiative,” said spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “They have once again demonstrated their true priorities in the space area, aimed not at keeping space free of weapons of any kind, but at placing weapons in outer space and turning it into an arena for military confrontation.”
Clay Moltz, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School and author of books on space security and conflict, said space warfare “has already been occurring” for many years, largely in the form of jamming satellite signals. “But there have been no kinetic attacks or nuclear explosions except in national weapons testing programs,” he added.
“As space becomes more and more crowded … countries are nervous about possible attacks on their assets,” Moltz said. “Such a [space] war is certainly possible, but it would be damaging to all of humanity.”
Natalia Abbakumova contributed to this report.
(c) Washington Post