Japan is Considering Building an ASAT Weapon

The government is considering launching a satellite to intercept foreign countries’ military satellites in the event of an emergency, as part of efforts to strengthen deterrence amid a rapidly increasing military threat in outer space, as seen in the development by China and Russia of satellites that can attack others, according to several government sources.

The government plans to make a formal decision on the introduction of such an intercepting satellite by the end of the next fiscal year so it can be launched in the mid-2020s, the sources said.

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Russia may be Testing its Nudol ASAT Weapon

Russia appears to be testing its Nudol ASAT system from Plesetsk. It issued a NOTAM warning that closed several areas on 14 June 2019. The closed areas look very much like those that were closed in April 2018 and in December 2018.

It was also closed on June 30th, 2019.

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The Chinese are Working on Laser Weapons

Chinese media have reported that a prototype laser weapon is being tested by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).

An article published on 5 April on the Sina news website contains several screengrabs taken from footage broadcast by China Central Television (CCTV) showing a trainable optical device mounted on a mobile chassis with a large main lens.

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Commercial satellite images have provided the first photographs of a secret Chinese anti-satellite laser base in western Xinjiang province, along with other high-technology weapons facilities.

The laser facility is located near a lake and is about 145 miles south of the Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

The facility was discovered by retired Indian Army Col. Vinayak Bhat, a satellite imagery analyst who specializes on China.

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Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on April 9 bluntly asserted that China’s PLA is “deploying directed energy (DE) weapons,” adding that “Russia is doing many of the same things.” In perhaps the strongest rhetoric yet from a Trump administration official about counterspace threats to US satellite systems, Shanahan said: “Both China and Russia have weaponized space with the intent to hold American space capabilities at risk.”

Shanahan’s comments about the state of Chinese and Russian DE counterspace weapons development go a step beyond the February-released assessment of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). That characterized both countries as pursuing DE counterspace weapons but stopped short of definitively finding that they had deployed such weapons.

“China likely (emphasis added) is pursuing laser weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites and their sensors and possibly already has a limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors,” the DIA said in its first ever assessment of threats to US space assets.

The DIA and Shanahan do agree on the view that China likely will field a ground-based laser weapon that can counter low-orbit space-based sensors by next year.

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Russia may Have Developed a new Coorbital Spy Sat in Support of its ASAT Program

Russia has been working since 2011 to develop a next-generation on-orbit anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon, according to two new studies by U.S. nongovernmental organizations.

The Secure World Foundation’s “Global Counterspace Report,” finds that the Russian work on a space-based ASAT codenamed “Burevestnik” (also known as Project 14K168) is being undertaken in tandem with a larger effort to develop a space-based space situational awareness (SSA) capability. The SWF report, and one by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) were released today and based on open source information.

“Open source research done by analyst Bart Hendrickx suggests that the Cosmos 2491, 2499, 2504, and 2521 satellites are part of a project started in 2011 to develop space-based space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities and may play a supporting role for other counterspace weapons,” the SWF report says. “Publicly-available documents and patents suggest a link between those Cosmos satellites and procurement for a project designated Nivelir … under the control of the Central Scientific Research Institute for Chemistry and Mechanics (TsNIIKhM). Hendrickx also has uncovered evidence suggesting there is an active Russian co-orbital ASAT program codenamed Burevestnik (“Petrel”) or project 14K168, also managed by TsNIIKhM and also started in 2011.” Burevestnik “may be designed to target GEO satellites, although it may be targeted against LEO satellites instead.”

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India Shot Down a Satellite

(AGI simulation of the intercept)

At a little over 11.10am Wednesday, a 13 metre-long, 19-ton missile took off from the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island launch complex off the coast of Odisha. Three minutes and 10 seconds later, it struck the 6,900mm-wide heart of a Microstat-R satellite — orbiting 268km above the earth — over the Bay of Bengal, blowing it to bits. India launched the satellite almost two months ago to the day, on January 29.

A little over an hour later, at 12.20 pm, after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a rare address to the nation that with the success of Mission Shakti, India had become only the fourth member of an exclusive club of nations — with the US, Russia and China — to have anti-satellite missile capability.

Soon after the missile struck the satellite, Modi and national security adviser Ajit Doval were informed by Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) chief Satheesh Reddy and Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) chief K Sivan over the phone, using a pre-decided coded message.

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2nd link.

Jane's weighs in.  As does Space News.

The US military was immediately aware of India's test.

Reuters factbox.

India claims the test was deter others from attacking its sats.

PM Modi hailed the test as proof of India's military prowess.

India's election commission is investigating if the test was actually an election ploy.

Some companies are condemning the test.

India's test was rather different than China's.

The Indian project was called "Project XSV-1" and India has been working on it for at least 31 months.

Launch to kill was 168 seconds, supposedly.

China and Russia also have Space Warfare Ambitions

The United States may or may not be getting a Space Force, but while President Trump is all-in on the creation of a new branch of the U.S. Military—and blowing up the military bureaucracy—it’s worth keeping in mind other countries have their military space programs. A recent DIA report shines a light on how the U.S. views these programs, particularly those of Russia and China, neither of which seem particularly threatening—for now anyway.

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Russia Tested a Nudol AntiSatellite Weapon on Dec 23, 2018

According to US sources, quoted by CNBC, Russia conducted a test of the Nudol ASAT system on December 23, 2018. The missile was launched from a mobile launcher from a test site in Plesetsk. The launch complex used to test the Nudol missile was found near the site used for Thyklon space launches.

That would be the second Nudol test in 2018 - the first one took place in April 2018. CNBC also quotes a source as saying that it was "the seventh overall test of the system." There were indeed three launches in 2014-2015 (one of them unsuccessful) and two in 2016 - in May and in December. Apparently there were no launches in 2017.

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Clearly, the US is the aggressor in space.

China Will Deploy AntiSatellite Laser in 2020

China's military is expected to deploy a laser weapon capable of destroying or damaging U.S. military satellites in low earth orbit in the next year, the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency disclosed in a report on space threats.

The Chinese directed energy weapon is among an array of space warfare tools that include ground-based anti-satellite (ASAT) missiles, electronic jammers, cyber attacks, and small satellites Beijing plans to use in attacks on U.S. satellites in a future conflict.

"China likely is pursuing laser weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage sat­ellites and their sensors and possibly already has a limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors," the unclassified intelligence report said.

"China likely will field a ground-based laser weapon that can counter low-orbit space-based sensors by 2020, and by the mid-to-late 2020s, it may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of non-optical satellites."

It was the first time a U.S. intelligence agency disclosed details of the ASAT laser deployment plans.

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Russia Conducts Successul ASAT Weapons Test

Russia successfully flight tested a new missile capable of knocking out strategic U.S. communications and navigation satellites, according to Pentagon officials.

The test of the PL-19 Nudol missile was carried out Dec. 16 from a base in central Russia, and was monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies.

It was the fifth test of the Nudol missile and the third successful flight of a system Moscow has claimed is for use against enemy missiles, said officials familiar with the reports of the launch.

The exact location of the flight test was not disclosed. Earlier tests of the missile took place from a facility near Plesetsk, located 500 miles north of Moscow.

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China Pressing Ahead With ASAT System

China’s Defense Ministry confirmed today that it was pressing ahead with anti-missile system tests after pictures appeared on state television, depicting a successful missile intercept test conducted in 2010. The Chinese announcement coincides with growing tension over South Korea’s decision to allow the U.S. deployment of THAAD anti-missile system in the Korean peninsula.

According to Yang Yujun, spokesman of the People’s Republic of China’s Defence Ministry, the development of missile defense capabilities is an essential part of the country’s national security strategy. “It will improve the self-defense capability of China and is not targeting any particular country and will not affect international strategic stability,” Yujun said, adding that China would consider taking unspecified measures to maintain strategic balance in the region. China is unimpressed by Washington claims that the introduction of THAAD poses no threat to China.

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China also released video of its missile defense test.

Russia Conducted Successful ASAT Missile Test

Russia conducted a successful flight test of a developmental anti-satellite missile on Wednesday that is capable of destroying satellites in orbit, American defense officials said.

The Nudol direct ascent anti-satellite missile was launched from the Plesetsk test launch facility, located 500 miles north of Moscow, said officials familiar with the situation.

The missile was monitored by U.S. intelligence satellites and the test appeared to be successful.

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Russia, China now Able to Destroy American Space Assets

China and Russia are preparing to attack and disrupt critical U.S. military and intelligence satellites in a future conflict with crippling space missile, maneuvering satellite, and laser attacks, senior Pentagon and intelligence officials told Congress on Tuesday.

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of the Air Force Space Command, said the threat to U.S. space systems has reached a new tipping point, and after years of post-Cold War stagnation foreign states are focused on curbing U.S. space systems.

“Adversaries are developing kinetic, directed-energy, and cyber tools to deny, degrade, and destroy our space capabilities,” Hyten said in a prepared statement for a hearing of the House Armed Service strategic forces subcommittee.

“They understand our reliance on space, and they understand the competitive advantage we derive from space. The need for vigilance has never been greater,” the four-star general said.

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Russia Claims to Have Successfully Tested "Nudol," a new Anti Satellite Missile, on November 18th

Russia carried out the first successful flight test of a new anti-satellite missile this month, marking a new phase in the global militarization of space.

The flight test of Russia’s direct ascent anti-satellite missile, known as Nudol, took place Nov. 18, according to defense officials familiar with reports of the test.

It was the first successful test in three attempts, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

With the successful anti-satellite missile test, Russia has joined China in arming its forces with strategic space warfare weapons.

Twenty days earlier China conducted a flight test of its anti-satellite missile. The Dong Neng-3 direct ascent missile was tested on Oct. 30 in western China.

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Russian spin.

The New Arms Race in Space

A new arms race in our skies threatens the satellites that control everything from security to communications

An unlikely memorial runs across the middle of the marketplace in Kettering — an otherwise unremarkable English market town. This slab of granite, set into the paving as part of a timeline of local history, reads “Russian Satellites: Grammar School Beats Nasa”. Etched into the stone is the distinctive outline of a sputnik orbiter.

Kettering Grammar School — like the space race — is long gone. But for a period it was on the front line of the extraterrestrial battle between Washington and Moscow. The Kettering Group — the school’s enthusiastic science masters and their eager pupils — became the world’s foremost amateur satellite sleuths, tracking secret Soviet launches and uncovering the location of a previously secret Russian cosmodrome from the workaday shire town.

[...]

Military officials from the US, Europe and Asia spoken to by the Financial Times confirm in private what the Kettering Group and other amateur stargazers have been watching publicly. Almost every country with strategically important satellite constellations and its own launch facilities is considering how to defend — and weaponise — their extraterrestrial assets. “I don’t think there is a single G7 nation that isn’t now looking at space security as one of its highest military priorities and areas of strategic concern,” says one senior European intelligence official.

“The threat is increasing and this is a major concern,” says Frank Rose, US assistant secretary of state for arms control. “Both Russia and China are developing ASAT [anti-satellite weapon] capabilities to hold US systems at risk. Now, we don’t believe it’s in anyone’s interest to engage in a space arms race . . . We don’t want conflict in outer space. But be assured, we will be able to operate in a degraded space environment. We’ve made it clear that we will do what is necessary to protect the space assets of the US and our allies against potential attack.”

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Did China Test an Antisatellite Missile on October 30th?

China last month conducted a test of a new missile capable of taking out US satellites as a part of Beijing’s growing arsenal in space warfare. The test of a Dong Neng-3 exoatmospheric vehicle took place on October 30, and was conducted from the Korla Missile Test Complex in western China, according to two defense officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.

The Chinese media reported on November 1 that the test was of a missile defense interceptor, but the defense officials said the missile is a direct-ascent type designed to destroy satellites. US State Department and Pentagon officials declined to comment on the test to the paper.

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second link.

The Coming War in Space

Air Force Space Command’s evolving mission to protect U.S. military and spy satellites was recently featured in a “60 Minutes” report.

The Aug. 3 segment gave an interesting look at the command based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, as well as its subordinate units and its leaders, including Gen. John Hyten, whom we covered earlier this year at the annual Space Symposium.

Besides cool footage of the laser firing at the Starfire Optical Range in Albuquerque, New Mexico (the laser helps a telescope better track adversary satellites), the segment was noteworthy for its discussion of the possible coming war in space — and America’s limited ability to thwart attacks against its most prized spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit.

Without assets in space to provide GPS coordinates to precision-guided bombs, imagery from drones and communication links to troops, among other advantages, “You go back to World War II. You go back to Industrial Age warfare,” Hyten told the CBS News program.

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Russian Militaria: PAK DA Stealth Bomber, Budgetary Issues, Armata Tank & More

One of the "banes" of the 1990s for the miltech enthusiast was very little was really happening.  I mean, the most exciting bit to come out was the Joint Strike Fighter.  bah.  (from the point of view of stability in the world, it was good.  Alas, miltech excitement and international dangers are tied together).

There are many things afoot for the Russian military and I don't mean their officially unofficial war in Ukraine against their Slavic cousins.   Russia has come back into the game of doing interesting things tech wise.  Or in some cases, they are claiming they are doing exciting things.

In the everything old is new again category, Russia is considering bringing back some of the blinding laser 'tanks' the Soviets built.  These are the equivalent of the Stinger laser pods developed for the Bradley IFVs, but on a T-80 chassis and being a dedicated platform rather than a secondary armament.  There is an arms race in the high energy laser department - US leading by a body length at least, if not a lap ahead - and its getting more and more serious.  So long as you have power, you don't have an empty magazine and the cost per shot is really, really low.  However, the ruby laser blinding weapons on these tanks are virtually useless in reality.  It's also not an encouraging sign for Russian miltech: technology has advanced significantly, especially in lasers, that bringing back a 30 (!) year old design does not help.   Bringing back those designs seems to be a common theme in Russian militaria, given the plan to start building the Tu-160 strategic bomber again.

Speaking of strategic bombers, the PAK DA - Russia's new bomber design - will fly in 2023 to 2024.  This is rumored to be a stealth bomber, even a flying wing, but there are still fan boys out there claiming this is a hypersonic bomber.  Given how wildly wrong the fanboys were over the Armata, we shall see.  

The T-14 Armata is Russia's new main battle tank.  Crew of two and a unmanned turret, its supposed to be able to go toe to toe with an Abrams.  Its also based on a chassis which is supposed to do what the Future Combat System was supposed to do for the US Army: a standard chassis which multiple vehicles are built from to reduce the parts and costs.  Russia Military Reform has a run down on the program.

However, Russia may not be able to afford all these wonder weapons.  Foxtrot Alpha has a editorial on the subject.  Weapons are expensive and procuring them when your economy is not doing as well or the price of oil has not recovered is rather difficult.

Given all of the above it becomes easy, all too easy, to dismiss Russia's capabilities.  That would be a mistake, just as it would be to dismiss the US military due to its recent procurement problems.  A very good example of what would make the US nervous which the Russians are doing and doing well is the Russian satellite currently orbit maneuvering and actively - or at least seemingly - doing a test inspection of an orbiting upper stage of a rocket.  It's actions are consistent with an ASAT: antisatellite weapon.  Given how dependent the US is on space as a sanctuary for its communications and observation, an active and capable ASAT is very nerve racking.  

However, while we ought not dismiss the Russians, there are signs some of their traditional relationships may be breaking down.  The Indians have requested foreign help in designing their next, recently spec'ed indigenous aircraft carrier.  The Russians, Americans, Brits and French were contacted for that help.  A key component the Indians are seeking is a catapult for their next carrier.  And...that's pretty much an American tech at this point.  Given the US Navy and the Indian Navy both have stated they want to collaborate on carriers...

July 23rd, 2014 Chinese ASAT Test was Actually a Success

We’ve known for some time that China conducted an anti-satellite test July 23 last year, but we learned today that that test was “successful” even if it didn’t destroy anything.

China has successfully placed low earth orbit satellites at risk, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jay Raymond told an overflow audience at the annual Warfighters Lunch at the Space Symposium here. “Soon every satellite in every orbit will be able to be held at risk,” the head of the 14th Air Force said.

China has claimed the test was for missile defense and noted that nothing was destroyed in the test. Raymond clearly wanted to dispel that impression and make certain everyone in the space community knew that China had executed another ASAT test and that it had worked.

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Chinese ASAT Test on July 23, 2014 Missed Target

China’s recent test of a missile designed to shoot down satellites in low-earth orbit highlights a growing threat of space weapons, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command said on Tuesday.

[...]

n China’s space weapons buildup, dubbed “counterspace” arms by the Pentagon, Haney said the United States needs to be ready to deal with attacks on satellites in a future conflict.

“The threat in space, I fundamentally believe, is a real one. It’s been demonstrated,” Haney said, noting China’s 2007 anti-satellite missile test against an orbiting satellite that created tens of thousand of debris pieces.

“They’ve repeated this kind of test last summer, and during that test, fortunately, they did not do a hit-to-kill kind of thing,” he said, noting that no further debris was created.

“But just seeing the nature of these types of activities show how committed they are to a counter-space campaign,” Haney said. “So we have to be ready for any campaign that extends its way into space.”

The July 23 test of the anti-satellite missile was identified by defense officials as the DN-1 anti-satellite interceptor missile. China also has a second anti-satellite (ASAT) missile called the DN-2 that was tested in 2013 and is designed to hit satellites in high-earth orbit—the location of intelligence, navigation, and targeting satellites.

China, which is publicly opposing the development of space weapons, did not identify the test as an anti-satellite missile. Instead, the Defense Ministry described the test as a “land-based anti-missile technology experiment.”

Haney said the July test was similar to the 2007 ASAT test.

“The only difference this time [is that] it did not impact another satellite,” he said. “I’m not convinced that was their intention. But quite frankly, just the whole physics and the demonstration and everything that they did, I’m sure they collected data in order to further make this an operational capability. … This was also a test for capability in low earth orbit.”

Haney was asked what steps the United States is taking in response to the space weapons threat and declined to provide specifics.

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China Tests Anti Satellite Missile on 7/23/2014

The U.S. says China has tested a missile designed to destroy satellites and is urging Beijing to refrain from destabilizing actions.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the "non-destructive" test occurred Wednesday. She said a previous destructive test of the system in 2007 created thousands of pieces of dangerous debris in space.

Harf said Friday that the continued development and testing of destructive anti-satellite systems threaten the long-term security and sustainability of the outer-space environment that all nations depend upon.

China's state-run Xinhua (shihn-wah) news agency, citing a Defense Ministry statement, reported a successful missile interception test conducted from land within Chinese territory late Wednesday.

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