A test model of a new Russian nuclear weapon that is attached to a satellite and would make it possible to destroy satellites in space is already floating in orbit around the Earth. US Deputy Secretary Mallory Stewart has warned about this. She wants to increase the pressure on China, among others, to veto its use.
Fears have been growing in Washington for several years that a new type of nuclear weapon is being built in Russia. That would be one that, unlike the nuclear weapons we know so far, cannot be used on Earth. It is one that is designed to operate in space and wreak havoc there.
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Fears have only increased recently, especially when the US and Japan presented a resolution in the UN Security Council on April 24 calling for a ban on such weapons in orbit around the Earth. It was Russia that was the only member state to veto. For the US, this is confirmation of what was already feared. China abstained from the vote.
Already launched
How concrete the American information about that weapon is is evident from a conversation that the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank had with Mallory Stewart in Washington on Friday. The American deputy minister for, among other things, weapons control said that a test model of that weapon is currently already in orbit around the Earth with a Russian satellite.
“Russia claims that satellite is for scientific purposes, but no other spacecraft flies in the orbit it is in,” Stewart said. Reason enough to distrust them, according to the deputy minister. The orbit would be one with a lot of radiation, which is therefore not used by other satellites.
Ban
For Stewart it is clear: a ban on such weapons is needed and she needs the support of all countries for that. “Everything we do in the diplomatic arena is to prevent the Russians from continuing with this program,” she added. “The international reaction if this really goes ahead must be global outrage, because this affects everyone, right? Any country. The weapon is indiscriminate in its potential effect.”
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The weapon could be deployed in space to destroy commercial and military satellites, for example satellites used to manage global communications. According to Stewart, the weapon is far from an immediate threat, but if used, she believes it would render Earth orbit unusable for a certain period of time.
