(TargetDailyNews.com) – U.S. intelligence experts are warning that Russia has a new military threat on the horizon—a space-based nuclear warhead that could destroy satellite communications across the West and wreak havoc on just about every aspect of daily life and business.
From what can be gathered (and information is preliminary and incomplete), Russia has not completed this weapon but is actively developing it. According to media reports, this is not the kind of nuclear bomb that would be directed at any nation’s land, but something that would detonate in outer space. If it worked as planned, taking out U.S. satellites, would not only affect civilian communications and commerce but also U.S. military spying and operations capabilities.
Ohio Republican Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, released a memo to all members on the committee saying they have learned of an “urgent matter” that all policymakers in government should know about. He said the project had the capacity to be “destabilizing” to foreign military operations, clearly referring to the potential effect on the U.S. Armed Forces.
Turner wants President Joe Biden to declassify and make public all intelligence the U.S. has about this potential weapon so that the government and allied nations can have a candid conversation about what nations can do to respond to the danger.
Either no one in U.S. intelligence yet knows the details about the weapon, or, if they do, they’re not disclosing them. John Kirby, spokesman for the White House, would only offer that Russia is working on a device with “anti-satellite capability.” He reiterated that whatever the weapon might be, it is not yet operational.
Weapons that can harm or destroy satellites are referred to as “ASATs”. There are different types. ASATs that are “kinetic” are systems that either physically collide with satellites, or that physically damage them by shooting projectiles such as missiles or other explosives.
But some ASATs don’t have to touch a satellite to neutralize it. These might work by detonating a nuclear warhead that can fry the internal circuitry of electronic equipment. Such systems are often described as emitting an electromagnetic pulse. Computerized electronic systems rely on magnetic storage of code and instructions, so disrupting them with an EMP would be akin to wiping the contents of a computer hard drive with a powerful magnet.
Such a weapon would have devastating effects on all areas of modern life and commerce, destroying cell phone communications, internet connectivity, and more.
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