WASHINGTON — John Plumb, the outgoing assistant secretary of protection for area coverage, mentioned the Pentagon views Russia’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon to be used in area as a deeply troubling risk, one which stands aside from different feared “counterspace” weapons being developed by Moscow, Beijing and others.
In an interview with SpaceNews, Plumb mentioned the USA has spent many years creating methods to take care of anticipated anti-satellite weapons. However Russia’s improvement of what U.S. intelligence believes to be a space-based nuclear weapon quantities to “a factor aside” that have to be handled in a different way due to its indiscriminate results if it have been ever deployed.
“The weaker a state is in its typical army drive, the extra it’s going to depend on nuclear weapons,” Plumb mentioned of Russia’s motivations, although its president has denied it’s pursuing space-based nuclear arms.
“Russia is exhausting lots of their typical drive on the Ukrainian entrance,” Plumb added, so right here it’s once more enjoying the nuclear card.
Whereas missing the power to deploy satellites as extensively as the USA and China, Russia may use such an orbiting nuclear weapon to cripple America’s satellite tv for pc networks. “It’s egregious,” Plumb mentioned.
Extra evaluation wanted
Whereas the USA performed the high-altitude Starfish Prime nuclear take a look at in 1962, spawning intense radiation results in area, Plumb mentioned the present risk requires new evaluation as a result of that take a look at occurred “a really very long time in the past, when there have been solely a small variety of satellites in area.”
He mentioned hardening all U.S. satellites in opposition to such radiation can be unrealistic and prohibitively costly. As an alternative, the Pentagon and different authorities companies ought to do additional research and modeling of the potential affect of a nuclear detonation in orbit, and develop choices to extend the resilience of army techniques.
With the State Division taking the lead on future talks with Moscow, Plumb mentioned the U.S. aim is to “persuade not simply Russia, however all nations that it’s a horrible concept” — even because the army should brace for all situations, nonetheless terrible.
DoD’s larger concentrate on area
Plumb, who’s stepping down later this month, is the primary Senate-confirmed assistant secretary for area coverage on the Protection Division, a brand new submit Congress established within the 2020 Nationwide Protection Authorization Act.
As he leaves workplace, Plumb recalled that on the time his place was created, the Pentagon underestimated the significance of getting a devoted area coverage workplace. When the Ukraine battle broke out, area was instantly thrust into the nationwide highlight due to the pivotal function performed by SpaceX’s Starlink satellite tv for pc community in offering communications in Ukraine and the intelligence worth of business imaging satellites to U.S. allies.
That’s when it turned very apparent that DoD wanted somebody to supervise area points, Plumb mentioned. “Earlier than that, many within the division had not understood how essential that may be.”
He identified DoD’s rising reliance on satellite tv for pc networks for communications, navigation, intelligence and different very important capabilities — in addition to the accelerating threats to these capabilities from nations like Russia and China. Having a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary, Plumb mentioned, places wanted emphasis on the area area as a precedence alongside the normal realms of air, land, sea and cyber operations.
