Russia’s plans for space-based nuclear weapon draws concern in the United States

If such a weapon is deployed, it can destroy civilian and military communications satellites.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the implementation of the high speed railway service linking Moscow with Saint Petersburg construction project in the town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma in the Sverdlovsk Region, Russia, February 15, 2024. Sputnik/Aleksandr Rjumin/Pool via REUTERS

Reports are coming in about the United States Congress and its allies being concerned about Russia making advances with a new space-based nuclear weapon that can threaten satellites in orbit.

If such a weapon is deployed, it can destroy civilian and and military communications satellites that are crucial to the United States and its allies. Right now, no country has the ability to counter such a weapon, said a former United States government official to The New York Times. This also raises questions about whether Russia plans to leave the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which prevents the use of all orbital nuclear weapons. But the country is not close to deploying such a weapon and is therefore not an urgent threat.

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Bleddyn Bowen, an associate professor at the University of Leicester who specialises in outer space international relations and warfare, told The Guardian the lack of detail was no reason to panic. “It’s so vague and cryptic, it could be a number of different things. [But] no matter what they are, none of them are a big deal, to be honest. Everyone needs to calm down about this.”

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Also, as long as the country is party to it, Article 4 of the Outer Space Treaty bans nuclear weapons from being put into orbit, installed on any celestial body or even stationed in outer space in any other manner. The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 also bans nuclear explosions in space.

There are three options for what could be developed by Russia, according to The Economist. One is a “pop-up” nuclear weapon designed to destroyed satellites. That could be stationed on the ground and launched only when it is used. Another could be a nuclear weapon stationed in orbit and third, it could be nuclear power satellite.

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