Russian Nuclear Capabilities In Space, US Has New Intelligence, Some Individuals Might See Advancements In Space Technology, Including Nuclear Capabilities, As A Sign Of Progress And Human Ingenuity In Exploring New Frontiers.

Russian military are preparing to deploy nuclear anti- satellite in space, US has new intelligence

Intelligence informed in brief to the Congress and US allies and some lawmakers said that it is serious enough that it should be clarified and it should be in public. Some senior member of the Congress said that it is not immediate and direct threat to US and its interest.

The system is under development and it is not in orbit yet. It is not clear that have far is this technology has been progressed, one of the officials said. An another US official said to the CNN that the system does not have any weapon and it won’t attack any human being.

It was not immediately clear that the intelligence was referring to nuclear-powered anti-satellite or nuclear-armed capabilities.

Hans Kristensen a congress member said that, an anti-satellite weapon placed in orbit around Earth would pose a significant danger to US nuclear command and control satellites.

Other countries have tested anti-satellite weapons in the past, but this would be an escalation, Kristensen said, and the US has made clear that it would react “very forcefully” to an attack on its nuclear command and control satellites.

“If it’s orbital, it’s a new level of threat [to the system], whether it’s nuclear or not,” said Kristensen, he also added that even conventional weapons on an orbital anti-satellite system could pose a significant threat to the US.

ABC News first reported that the intelligence related to a Russian space-based nuclear capability.

Earlier Wednesday, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, said that, “information concerning a serious national security threat.”

Immediately, lawmakers began tramping down to the House basement to learn what the intelligence was. Some left overwhelmed. One Democratic member with deep national security experience said that they had never before received that kind of urgent summons over a national security matter during their time in Congress — and that the intelligence they saw when they arrived was not urgent enough to justify Turner’s alarm-pulling.

The Republican speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson said that, “there is no cause for alarm” and indicating that he had known about the intelligence since at least January.

“We just want to assure everyone steady hands are at the wheel. We’re working on it and there’s no need for alarm,” Johnson said. Rep. Jim Himes, the committee’s top Democrat, said in a statement that “There is no cause for panic”.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday said he was “surprised” that Turner had made the existence of the intelligence public, noting that he was already scheduled to brief the top Republican and Democratic leaders of the House as well as Turner and Himes on Thursday.

Turner in his statement has urged the Biden administration to declassify “all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the Administration, and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat.”

The uproar over the new intelligence comes as a $60 billion aid package to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia has stalled in the House and former President Donald Trump has been publicly supporting GOP members who have opposed the package. Trump has also in recent days said that he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies that do not meet alliance-set spending goals on their own defense.

But Turner has publicly supported continuing to fund the Ukraine war effort. Some lawmakers and US officials privately speculated that his effort to brief lawmakers on the intelligence — something the House Intelligence Committee voted on Tuesday night to do — might be an attempt to shore up flagging support for Ukraine.

Sources declined to provide further detail on the intelligence or the Russian capabilities it describes.

But for years, Russia has pursued counterspace systems designed to neutralize US military and commercial space systems, according to a 2022 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report on space security. Russian doctrine called for being able to target an enemy’s satellites from the ground, air, cyber and space, using attacks that range from temporary jamming to outright destruction.

In 2020, Russia tested a space-based anti-satellite weapon with sophisticated orbital capabilities that could have a dual purpose: it could service and inspect friendly satellites while having the capability to attack enemy satellites.

An attempt to launch a nuclear-armed anti-satellite system into space would violate The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which explicitly prohibits “any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction” in orbit.

Credit – This article is published by the information provided on CNN news.