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While the militarization of space is certainly not in the interest of the world, the political West keeps pushing for an exponential increase in the deployment of military assets to Earth’s orbit.
Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst
In recent days, the Russian military has reiterated its warning that it will consider foreign satellites legitimate targets if it determines that they are providing militarily viable information which is then used to attack Russian forces. According to The Associated Press, the new warning from Moscow was announced on Thursday and is as follows: “Amid the battles, Russia issued a warning that the United States could be drawn into the conflict, adding it could target Western commercial satellites used for military purposes in support of Ukraine.”
The official statement was given by the Deputy Chief of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Arms Control and Nonproliferation Department, Konstantin Vorontsov, who said that “quasi-civilian infrastructure could be a legitimate target for retaliation.”
The announcement comes mere days after the controversial multibillionaire Elon Musk stated that his SpaceX will continue providing Starlink services to the Kiev regime forces. The question of potential Pentagon funding for the satellite network was also raised by Musk, revealing a direct connection between the supposedly “civilian” Starlink system and the US military. Even in the case that public funding by the US Department of Defense (DoD) is not officially secured, Russia is extremely likely to target the satellite network if it determines that its contribution to the Kiev regime forces is militarily significant. Despite SpaceX’s complaints that it cannot afford to sustain operations indefinitely on its own due to high costs, the much bigger problem for the US-based private space company would be having a military superpower targeting its satellites in space.
The Neo-Nazi junta in Kiev claims that Starlink is “essential to its ability to repel the Russian advance, as it’s often used in frontline communications where no other comms links exist.” According to the Amsterdam-based Moscow Times: “‘Commercial satellites used by the United States to assist the Kiev regime in its war against Russia are legitimate targets for attacks,’ an unnamed Russian diplomat said on Wednesday. Private assets like Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet constellation, as well as Maxar and Planet Labs earth observation satellites, have proven critical in keeping Ukrainians online and piercing the fog of war.”
As previously mentioned, this is not the first time that Russia warned about the use of civilian space assets for military purposes. Last month, Vorontsov warned that “non-military satellites used by the Kiev regime constitute indirect involvement in military operations,” clearly implying that they are very likely to be targeted. Although Vorontsov didn’t specify that Starlink or any other private company were involved, his statement in the United Nations was quite clear and implied that the involvement of any civilian enterprise will not be tolerated. The Foreign Ministry of Russia also made similar statements on Thursday. The Ministry’s Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the US is pursuing a “thoughtless and mad” escalation. “The more the US is drawn into supporting the Kiev regime on the battlefield, the more they risk provoking a direct military confrontation between the biggest nuclear powers fraught with catastrophic consequences,” Zakharova warned.
China has also repeatedly warned against the use of civilian satellites in a potential confrontation in Taiwan. In order to deter the political West’s belligerence, the Chinese military is already conducting anti-satellite simulations to test its capabilities in space defense. According to Asia Times, Beijing has simulated using nuclear weapons to destroy near-Earth orbit satellites, a capability that could “knock out multiple enemy satellite constellations used to support military operations.” The Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, a Xian-based research institute run by the Chinese military, claims to have developed a model to “evaluate the performance of nuclear anti-satellite weapons at different altitudes and yields with unprecedented detail and accuracy.”
The simulation showed that a 10-megaton thermonuclear warhead has the capacity to destroy satellites and other space-based assets if it detonates at an altitude of 80 kilometers. According to the research team, the thermonuclear blast turns air molecules into a pear-shaped cloud of radioactive particles that can cause failures and damage to satellites. Nuclear physicist Liu Li and his team published the findings in the Nuclear Techniques peer-reviewed journal. Liu’s team noted: “A space-based nuclear explosion would be ineffective as the lack of air would not generate a large radioactive cloud. Furthermore, the Earth’s atmosphere would capture most of the high-energy particles created by the blast and spread it around the globe as a radiation belt, threatening a wide range of spacecraft.”
Both Russia and China have made significant investments in their military capabilities in space. The Russian military is already deploying a number of directed energy weapons capable of targeting satellites in orbit, while China is already launching secretive spaceplanes on a regular basis. Both (Eur)Asian giants also operate anti-satellite missiles which have been tested and have successfully hit targets in space. While the militarization of space is certainly not in the interest of the world and is even banned by a number of international treaties, the political West (particularly the US) keeps pushing for an exponential increase in the deployment of military assets to Earth’s orbit, which will inevitably lead to a response from other world powers with significant capabilities in space.
Russia was the first into space. Instead of using this technology to dominate their enemies they squandered any advantage they had. Now they want another pointless treaty with an opponent that never keeps their word. When will the retards in the Kremlin give up their fantasy of “partners”?
The US has been testing space based nukes for a few years now flying that unmanned small shuttle into space. The idea is to be able to have a nuke come down using the re-entry path to nuke Russia without any global launch of nukes.
Sneaky plan but the Russians found out about it.
The Star Link has secret nukes in all its satellite pipes. A push on the remote control and it rains. Russia has still not figured that out.
The Star Wars Program was modified so it can slip under all those signed treaties that the West never respects…. yes the STAR WARS PROGRAM was modified…. made a little more secretive.
When Elon gets starship worked out in a couple of months, USA will have a huge advantage with space wars.
Starship basically reduces the costs of getting to orbit by like 100x.
Russia and china are going to have to step up their game here because USA can send satellites up into orbit all day with a reusable rocket.
Go away Joe, you’re boring and repetitive.
With barely food in the shelves , no diesel for the trucks and no chips for the calculators, the US is likely to be focusing on suvival on Earth for the next decade. Space wars and other related things are just nothing but a wet dream for the United States.
USA exerts its might around the world while BLM race riots rule its streets, which are home for more and more of its disenfranchised wretches.
Well theft of Russian assets is nothing new for US and Natostan. Look at the looting of Venezuela and fiasco with CIA and Bank of England. These ba–yards have stealing daily from every country and continent and it’s coming apart; as Russia and China can’t turn back.
Talk is cheap. If I were Russia I would give US all my bank gold to make peace with our dear partners.
How hard can it be to release swarms of little missiles that individually that gradually come up to satellites, and with a big burst of thrust push an unsuspecting satellite down to earth? I’m sorry that technology should already exist among the USA, China and Russia.
Enough talk…just do it.1 destroyed western terrorist satellite will correct their behavior
Russia and china talk too much – all hot air
“Nuclear physicist Liu Li and his team published the findings in the Nuclear Techniques peer-reviewed journal.”
Why Liu needs to show off his techniques for USNato to learn and trial themselves blasting nuclear at 80km altitude?
Cowardice Ru is making itself a laughing stock for not even dare to block USNato lethal weapon supply and deploying their SF as mercenaries.
USNato surveillance jets and drones are flying along borders to send AFU intelligence for precision strikes. They sunken two Ru warships that Russia dare not admit to retaliate.
West leaders are able to fly openly into Kiev with fanfare to boast how they will help AFU kill more Russians.
Noise nothing more….. Just as in Syria…. ultimately Russia wins.
Afghanistan for example had NATO forces everywhere…. they ran the government… what happened 20 years later? Camel humping rebels took over American weapons even flying American helicopters while the USA had to run “basically run out” of Afghanistan…. similar happened in Somalia where the US Soldiers were saved by Pakistani UN soldiers to escape Somalia.
I suspect Russia will help the USA and NATO to escape Ukraine in the near future….. help save their lives as they run out of Ukraine after losing!
Weaponized space has been an unfortunate reality for quite some time. This article is written like a first year introduction course to geoengineering, which has been ongoing for over 100 years. Every nation state’s space program has been a covert military operation, dressed up as an overt civilian ‘exploration’ venture, ever since. Jeff Bezos didn’t go from selling books out of his garage to lauching rockets into space using his own money and elbow grease, it’s pretty obvious he’s only a puppet, overseeing deep state military developments without the pesky burdens of congressional oversight. Ground based lasers and anti-satillite rockets have already been put into service in Russia and China because of this obvious reality.
Russia may Destroy the starlink satellites