The US has informed its allies that Russia is developing a space-based capability to knock out satellites using a nuclear weapon or a mock warhead, and that it could deploy it as early as this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the US has shared its assessment with NATO and other partners, and urged them to take the threat seriously. They said that Russia’s deployment of a nuclear weapon in orbit would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, to which Russia is a signatory, and pose a grave challenge to the US and its allies’ security and interests.
The US intelligence community has been monitoring Russia’s activities in space for years, and has detected signs of its anti-satellite weapons program, which includes ground-based lasers, missiles, and electronic jammers, as well as space-based systems. In 2023, the US accused Russia of conducting a test of a space weapon that released a projectile near one of its satellites1. Russia denied the allegation and claimed that it was conducting a peaceful inspection of its own satellite2.
However, the US believes that Russia is pursuing a more aggressive and dangerous strategy in space, and that it is preparing to launch a nuclear weapon or a mock warhead into orbit, possibly disguised as a civilian satellite. The US fears that Russia could use this capability to target and destroy US and allied satellites, which are essential for military communications, navigation, intelligence, and missile defense.
The US has also expressed concern that a nuclear explosion in space could have devastating consequences for the space environment, as well as for the terrestrial systems that rely on it. A nuclear blast could create a large cloud of debris and radiation, which could damage or disrupt hundreds of satellites and endanger human spaceflight. It could also affect the global communications, weather, and economic systems that depend on satellite services3.
The US has called on Russia to refrain from deploying any nuclear weapons in space, and to engage in dialogue and cooperation to ensure the peaceful and responsible use of outer space. The US has also reaffirmed its commitment to defend its space assets and interests, and to deter and respond to any hostile actions in space. The US has invested in enhancing its space capabilities and resilience, as well as in developing its own counter-space weapons, such as the X-37B space plane and the SM-3 missile interceptor45.
Russia, for its part, has denied any plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space, and has accused the US of militarizing and dominating outer space. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was only doing in space what other countries, including the US, were doing, and that Russia was always against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space. Russia has also proposed a draft treaty to ban the placement of weapons in outer space, which the US has rejected as flawed and hypocritical.
The US-Russia rivalry in space is part of a broader geopolitical competition that has intensified in recent years, amid rising tensions over issues such as Ukraine, Syria, cyberattacks, and election interference. The new space race reflects the growing importance and complexity of the space domain, as well as the challenges and opportunities it presents for the US and its allies.
Facts from Microsoft Start Partners power by Copilot.
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