The attention these days is entirely focused on the feared Russian war capabilities in a space environment. Hypersonic missiles, nuclear-powered satellites equipped with electronic weapons they are considered concrete threats to the security of states due to the damage they could cause to Western satellites dedicated to providing essential services such as those in the field of telecommunications and geolocation.
By Massimiliano D'Elia
The launch of the Russian satellite is almost here Cosmos 2575, a launch that has stirred the waters of diplomacy and military headquarters, raising great concern among experts. The feared risk is that the satellite could carry out a real space war, targeting American but also European satellites, blinding them to make them inefficient. Incalculable damage could thus occur to Western economies following "severe" interruptions to essential services such as telecommunications or geolocation. For this reason the White House intended to inform Congress of the existence of a "serious threat to national security."
The spokesperson for the White House Office of Homeland Security, John Kirby, confirmed that Moscow “is working on a capability to attack satellites”, but declined to specify whether or not it was an actual nuclear weapon or a nuclear-powered satellite equipped with electronic weapons.
Moscow has denied everything, calling the accusation a White House ploy to gain congressional support for aid to Kiev. However, five days later, the United States has put six "dedicated" satellites into orbit, whose task should be to exclusively monitor rocket launches from the earth's surface. The concerns of the military and the intelligence community do not refer only to satellites but also to Russian hypersonic weapons such as the Zircon missile (successfully tested, according to the Russians, last February) which can travel at Mach 9 for over 1000km and capable, on a conceptual level, of flying up to hit targets in space.
Experts maintain that, to date, there is no credible defense against threats of this type in the space environment. This is why Republican congressman Mike Turner, head of the House Intelligence Committee, asked the White House to declassify the intelligence reports, raising the alarm about a concrete threat to national security.
The news coincidentally comes out, however, just the day before the 60th Security Conference which begins today in Munich where fifty world leaders will discuss current and emerging threats. It is no coincidence that the threat of war activities in the space domain could lead to huge investments by states to be able to defend themselves or attack, thus moving geopolitical tensions directly above the Earth's atmosphere.
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