Bracing for a new arms race in space.

last updated 8 January 2015

Russia

Andrei Kislyakov

The Americans are weaponizing space, said Andrei Kislyakov in the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. The Pentagon has proposed putting weapons into orbit, while coyly contending that they are intended to defend American commercial and military satellites from attack. Obviously, Pentagon spokesmen are “not being totally straightforward.” Nobody has ever attacked satellites in orbit, nor is such an attack at all likely. These space weapons, then, must be intended for another purpose: “to destroy enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).” It’s the old Star Wars missile defense game all over again. And while we “wouldn’t want to speculate,” it’s not hard to guess “whose ICBMs the U.S. Strategic Command has in mind.” So will Russia have to start gearing up for “an unprecedented arms race,” this time for “a new theater of war?” Not necessarily. The Americans may deploy in space, but we’re ready for them. Our military says we have already developed “asymmetrical solutions enabling our ICBMs to effectively breach anti-ballistic missile defenses—today, tomorrow, and in the foreseeable future.”