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As Russia stalks US satellites, a space arms race may be heating up
[The Bulletin dot org] In August 2008, after skirmishes between pro-Russian separatists and government forces in Georgia, Russian forces invaded the former Soviet republic. Russian troops came within a few miles of its capital, Tbilisi, before agreeing to a ceasefire. On the surface, Russia appeared to get what it wanted during the five-day war: de facto independence for two restive regions of a country that overall had been clearly turning toward the West. But the swift victory masked the degree to which the war served as a wake-up call: the Russian military had gone to war in the 21st Century using World War II-era compasses for navigation and outmoded equipment for weapons targeting.The Georgian conflict proved a far cry from the US military’s GPS-powered assault on Iraqi forces in a 100-hour ground offensive in 1991. For Russia, the conflict signaled the need for a major military upgrade–particularly in the satellite systems critical for navigation, targeting, and communications. Twelve years and billions of rubles later, Russia is now challenging the United States’ long-standing supremacy in space and working to exploit the US military’s dependence on space systems for communications, navigation, intelligence, and targeting. Moscow is developing counter-space weapons as a part of its overall information warfare strategy. For example, Russia just tested an anti-satellite missile system designed to destroy satellites in low earth orbit. Moreover, military leaders in Russia view US satellites as the key enablers of America’s ability to execute rapid, agile, and global military operations; they are intent on echoing this success and modernizing their own military satellites to more effectively support Russian forces. Posted by: 3dc 2020-05-25 |
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