Analysts said on Thursday, the 15th of February, that the space-based nuclear weapon that US intelligence believes Russia is developing is most likely a nuclear-powered device designed to disrupt or damage satellite electronics, reports Reuters.
Information about the possibility that Russia is developing space-based nuclear weapons came to light on Wednesday after the Republican chairman of the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, spokesman Mike Turner, issued a statement highlighting the “grave national security threat” posed by the issue.
Washington reportedly has new intelligence on Russia’s nuclear weapons capability
and efforts to develop a space-based weapon.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that Russia is developing a space-based anti-satellite system that has not yet been deployed. He said US President Joe Biden had requested direct diplomatic talks with Moscow on the issue. He noted that this would not pose a direct threat to society, as the weapon is not intended for use on Earth or to pose a physical threat on Earth.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also reiterated this position, stating that the weapon is not currently active.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson stressed on Thursday that Congress has been aware of the potential threat of space-based weapons for several weeks and called for an immediate US response, noting that the US cannot rely on other countries to address such issues.
Analysts who follow Russia’s space programmes
have said that the space-based threat may not be a nuclear warhead, as is believed, but a powerful device that requires nuclear energy to carry out a series of attacks on satellites.
These could range from signal jammers to weapons that can blind image sensors, to electromagnetic pulses that could melt the entire electronics of satellites in a given area.
A 2023 report by the US Defence Intelligence Agency revealed that Russia is working on a number of weapons designed to threaten individual satellites and may be developing higher-power systems that would threaten the structures of entire satellites.
But the Kremlin on Thursday had denied the US warning
about Moscow’s new nuclear capabilities in space and called it a “malicious fabrication”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from commenting on the content of the reports until the White House revealed details, saying it was obvious that the White House was trying to get Congress to vote on funding for the project. “We will see what tricks the White House will use,” he said.
The US, Russia and China already have the capability to attack satellites around the world, but in theory they cannot use nuclear weapons in space because all three signed the 1967 Outer Space Treaty at the start of the Cold War, which prohibits countries from sending into orbit “any object containing nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction”, according to Reuters.
Also read: BNN ANALYSES | Russia “searches” for 29 Lithuanian officials, who are advised to “carefully” plan their travels now
Follow us on Facebook and X!