WASHINGTON: The United States’ announcement that it has deployed a weapon into Earth’s orbit has raised questions over what the system is and how it could be used as military competition in space intensifies.
US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said the “on orbit” weapon was deployed to protect American forces from hostile action, but provided no details about its capabilities or when it was placed in space.
Military powers already use satellites for secure communications, reconnaissance, navigation and missile detection. Analysts expect military activity in orbit to expand as technology advances.
Dr Bleddyn Bowen of the Royal United Services Institute said the weapon could potentially be an electronic warfare or radio-jamming platform.
“I would expect there to be some kind of electronic warfare or radio-jamming platform, possibly,” Bowen told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, describing it as a potentially non-destructive anti-satellite weapon.
He explained that disrupting a satellite’s communications could effectively disable it. “If you take out the radio links then your satellite is very useless,” he said.
Bowen also said a more destructive system could not be ruled out, including a kinetic weapon capable of physically destroying another satellite. Another possibility, he suggested, could be a satellite designed to approach and grapple other spacecraft.
Experts say the US is not alone in developing military capabilities in space. Russia and China have increasingly conducted rendezvous and proximity operations, involving spacecraft manoeuvring close to other satellites.
Dr Rod Thornton of King’s College London said such spacecraft could potentially become “hunter-killer satellites” by colliding with or pushing other satellites out of orbit.
China has also demonstrated what Bowen described as a “space tug capability”, allowing a spacecraft to grapple another satellite and move it into a different orbit. While such technology could be used against military satellites, experts note that it can also have peaceful applications, including removing space debris.