Russia’s plans for space-based nuclear weapon draws concern in the United States
If such a weapon is deployed, it can destroy civilian and military communications satellites.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the implementation of the high speed railway service linking Moscow with Saint Petersburg construction project in the town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma in the Sverdlovsk Region, Russia, February 15, 2024. Sputnik/Aleksandr Rjumin/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the implementation of the high speed railway service linking Moscow with Saint Petersburg construction project in the town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma in the Sverdlovsk Region, Russia, February 15, 2024. Sputnik/Aleksandr Rjumin/Pool via REUTERS
Reports are coming in about the United States Congress and its allies being concerned about Russia making advances with a new space-based nuclear weapon that can threaten satellites in orbit.
If such a weapon is deployed, it can destroy civilian and and military communications satellites that are crucial to the United States and its allies. Right now, no country has the ability to counter such a weapon, said a former United States government official to The New York Times. This also raises questions about whether Russia plans to leave the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which prevents the use of all orbital nuclear weapons. But the country is not close to deploying such a weapon and is therefore not an urgent threat.