As we approach the third decade of the 21st century, the battle over space will feature prominently. We recall back in the 1980's, the infamous war-hawk U.S president, Reagan, promised that the Americans would be able to produce a 'Star Wars' weapons system, and the program was based on the use of lasers.
But it's Russia that has made leaps and bounds in the development of space weapons, and weapons that can reach space. The S-500 for example, can reach those objects in near earth orbit which we casually refer to as 'space'.
The destruction of satellites is an essential condition for victory in the event of a military conflict, for example between Russia and the United States, military expert Konstantin Sivkov told the Vzglyad newspaper.
Sivkov stressed that Russia, in addition to having anti-satellite missiles with advanced technology, is also modernizing the projectiles of the Soviet Union.
"It is necessary to down the satellites that carry out spying missions in our territory before the beginning of military actions, as well as the satellites that provide navigation data for the enemy troops in our territory and near our borders", explained the analyst, highlighting the importance of this weaponry, which victory in modern conflicts will be "impossible" without.The military expert pointed out that the destruction of satellites "reduces" the military capacity of the adversary "several times" and noted that the US and China also have missiles of this type. According to him, the Americans can destroy satellites with the SM-3 missiles.
At the same time, Sivkov noted that the US "dominates space", as they have about 400 military satellites, four times more than Russia.
"So we are forced to take measures to neutralize the US satellites if necessary," he said.
Speaking about the technical characteristics of the anti-satellite missiles, Sivkov said that they are fired from airplanes and that the satellite is destroyed by kinetic, or dynamic PULSE, i.e by explosion.
Recently, the CNBC channel reported that by 2022, Russia will adopt missiles supposedly capable of knocking down satellites.
This comes as their is a race between the US, China and Russia to dominate space before the other. However, as humanity sits at the beginning of being able to colonize parts of space, a greater joint effort is needed to achieve this task. However, under US President Donald Trump, no such efforts are being made as the US wants supremacy in space.
Reader Comments
Us ?
Because in reality,these sick ***** in the corridors of power in any country you care to mention are all in the same club....
The club we're not in.
Just look at Syria...wtf
Its like planet Mars with different countries vying for airspace in a delicate ballet of coordinated chaos to control someones elses damned wealth.
Russia vs USA vs Afghanistan vs Iraq vs Iran vs Libya vs Syria..S-300's S-400's that never get fired..
Its just one big waste of we the peoples lifelong output
And honestly quite sickening
I reckon the events in Syria for example, are much more complex than your comment suggests. Firing a S-300 missile against the illegal coalition in Syria will only escalate the situation, and as such, is not seen as viable, as the Russians and Syrians are winning. So why change that dynamic, unless it is absolutely necessary?
The presence of the Russian missiles in Syria have already made a huge impact . Where is the shock and awe , like was visited upon Iraq, or Libya?