Some rather disconcerting news is arriving out of Russia, which sadly, is not an unusual thing to hear lately after Vladimir Putin directly involved himself in the hacked U.S. election. Yet this could potentially be very bad, for Russia has reportedly tested an anti-satellite weapon that could — as its label suggests — take out other countries’ communications or navigation satellites.
The current intrigue involves a CNN report that’s based upon U.S. sources who claim knowledge of the test. The weapon (it must be a missile similar to the Nudol) is described as capable of knocking out U.S. satellites, although it did not create debris during the test, so it didn’t actually hit a target. Instead, the sources are hinting that the test is a “provocative demonstration of Moscow’s capability in space.” This is happening when Donald Trump is about to take office and may consider Russia to be an afterthought on a list of “defense priorities.”
In addition to this missile, the officials tell CNN that Russia has also deployed “Kosmos 2499,” which are kamikaze satellites that are “designed to sidle up to American satellites and, if ordered, destroy or disable them.” Considering how (militarily and commercially) dependent the U.S. is on satellites, this report cannot be painted in a positive light.
The cable news network’s sources haven’t specified the dates for either the claimed kamikaze satellite deployments or the anti-satellite weapon launch, but conservative paper Washington Free Beacon claims that the missile was launched on Dec. 16. The paper also spoke with a Pentagon rep, who stated, “We generally don’t comment on other countries’ capabilities.”
CNN notes that China conducted similar anti-missile tests in 2007.
(Via CNN & Washington Free Beacon)