Fury as Russia fires Star Wars missile

Anti-satellite weapon risks making space new front line

‘We are deeply vulnerable’

RUSSIA has risked triggering a space war by test-firing an antisatellite weapon in orbit.

Britain and America yesterday furiously condemned the Kremlin for a ‘concerning’ act they said threatened peace in space.

The weapon’s debris alone threatens the network of satellites the world depends on, according to the head of the UK military’s space directorate.

Moscow fired the weapon from its Cosmos 2543 satellite last week. It did not target another spacecraft but came close to a Russian satellite.

A US statement said the launch was ‘another example that the threats to US and Allied space systems are real, serious and increasing’.

It is the first time the British and American military have publicly accused the Kremlin of carrying out an anti-satellite weapons test in space.

The Russians have in the past conducted low-level tests with weapons in orbit but nothing of this size.

One UK defence source said: ‘This is using a satellite as a space weapon. It is a step in the direction of turning space into a new front line.’

A second added: ‘They’ve crossed a line when it comes to the scale of this.’

Britain depends on satellites in many crucial areas, including communications, navigation via satnav devices and weather forecasting. Ministers have previously said an enemy state could affect the ability of the emergency services to respond to urgent incidents by taking out satellites.

In a statement yesterday, Air Vice-Marshal Harvey Smyth, chief of the MoD’s space directorate, said: ‘We are concerned by the manner in which Russia tested one of its satellites by launching a projectile with the characteristics of a weapon.

‘Actions of this kind threaten the peaceful use of space and risk causing debris that could pose a threat to satellites and the space systems on which the world depends. We call on Russia to avoid any further such testing. We also urge Russia to continue to work constructively with the UK and other partners to encourage responsible behaviour in space.’

Cosmos 2543 was launched into space on a Soyuz rocket that took off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Mirny, north-west Russia, on November 26.

It was combined with a second satellite, which split from it 11 days after the launch.

In a telephone phone call last night, US President Donald Trump expressed hope to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that they could avoid ‘an expensive three-way arms race’ between the US, China and Russia.

Washington also issued a statement saying that the launch of the weapon was further evidence of Russia’s efforts to develop and test space-based systems.

General John Raymond, head of US space command, said it was ‘consistent with the Kremlin’s published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold US and allied space assets at risk’.

The US State Department has raised concerns that Russian satellites display characteristics of a ‘space-based weapon’.

Dr Christopher Ford, the US assistant secretary of state, said: ‘This event highlights Russia’s hypocritical advocacy of outer space arms control, with which Moscow aims to restrict the capabilities of the United States while clearly having no intention of halting its own counterspace program.’

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the House of Commons on Wednesday that the UK was ‘deeply vulnerable’ in space.

Mr Wallace added: ‘The threat against space is regretfully real, our adversaries are weaponising space and we are deeply vulnerable in the West from those types of actions because we rely so much on space assets.’