Chiding Russia for its recent ASAT test, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said that "from the Defense Department's perspective, we would like to see all nations agree to refrain from anti-satellite weapons testing that creates debris."
Hyten’s warning is clear: DoD’s processes are not currently on track to produce adequate solutions in time. The proposed series of workshops would constitute a major step toward positioning the United States government to nimbly navigate the space weapon landscape of the late 2020s and beyond.
The delicate compromise between the US, Russia and China "may actually accomplish something," said Victoria Samson, head of Secure World Foundation's Washington office.
Striking a target just across a national border is relatively easy. What is much harder, however, is striking an adversary’s satellites. Could Iran do it?
Image credit: Russian Ministry of Defense.
WASHINGTON: With regard to the potential for war in space, the COVID-19 pandemic has been the proverbial silver lining in the cloud with two studies on the development of global anti-satellite weapons capabilities showing no Big Bangs happening in 2020.
That said, it doesn’t mean everything is now unicorns and rainbows in orbit. Russia, in particular, continued in 2020 to test and field capabilities that very clearly are aimed at attacking US satellites, both studies found. While Moscow didn’t demonstrate anything really new, it did just keep on keeping on with its robust efforts to find ways to undercut US military advantage in space.