Space – the final frontier for war?
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What did the U.S. recently admit about deploying weapons in orbit?
In an unprecedented admission this week, the United States military confirmed it has deployed space control weapons into Earth's orbit. While Washington insists its purpose is to protect critical satellite networks from growing threats, some analysts are now warning the move could accelerate a high-risk arms race with Russia and China. So could space become the final frontier for war? I'm joined by Chris Devrell, who is a a former British general who led the military space domain and who is now advising start up firms in the defence and space sector. Chris, good morning to you. Hello, m David, good morning. Um so what do we know uh uh apart from the fact that these on orbit weapon w or weapons exist, do we know anything about them, how they work, what there how many of them there are, or anything like that?
No. I think it's very deliberate on the part of the United States not to tell us uh what kind of weapons they are. Um uh the the r the only thing that was really new about the announcement was the announcement. The likelihood is that that America has had On orbit space weapons for some time.
How might space‑based weapons actually work – kinetic vs. non‑kinetic?
Okay. Um and I mean what do we know about how they might work? I suppose it's all very speculative, is it?
Well, I I think we know the broad categories that they could um entail and and that in the first instance depends upon whether they are what we call kinetic or non kinetic. In other words, whether they have a destructive physical destructive power or uh some other kind of ability to interfere. So so I think the least likely thing that we are uh expecting the Americans to have is a a kind of missile system in space that would attack other people's satellites um and physically destroy them because that creates creates a lot of debris in space which is very damaging to to everybody who's got satellites in space, including the US. So what we're more likely to be talking about is um w s satellites that are capable of jamming or or dazzling sensors or um of uh cyber attacks or even of manoeuvring close up to another satellite and and taking it off orbit.
Okay, and presumably the Russians and the Chinese might have something similar.
I'm sure they
do. You know,
I think
the
the uh the strong evidence is that they do. We have seen evidence of uh Russian satellites recently maneuvering close to um Intel Sat satellites. Uh we don't precisely know what they were doing uh next to them, but we know that they were maneuvering to be next to them.
Why could the U.S. announcement be aimed at deterring Russia or China?
Why do you think the US made this announcement now, Chris?
Well, it could be because they are trying to deter some action they think the either the Russians or the Chinese might have been about to take. I mean that's a very plausible reason. But it's also possible that it's kind of like a logical conclusion from firstly the establishment of a force to deal with space in the United States Arms Forces called the Space Force. uh and and the decision to to to make uh space a war fighting domain in its own right. Once you have a space force and and space is a war fighting domain, the next sort of logical step is space weapons.
Right. And it are there is an international treaty, I think, about the deployment of nuclear weapons in space, but nothing about what we're talking about here, is there?
No, no th th the the actual regime for arms control in space is pretty limited. Uh um it does, as you say, um ban states from putting um nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit. Uh although the the Americans have accused the Russians of developing such a system, um but that in i that would be against the treaty, which which the Russians are party to. But apart from that there's very little control of of what goes on in space.
What does the current international treaty regime say about weapons in space?
Now Washington argues that this weapon it has admitted having is for protection, it's for deterrence. That sounds a a lot like how arms races normally begin, doesn't it?
Yeah, I d I don't think you could um blame the United States for starting the arms race. You know, who knows who who who did the first step in space, but uh is there g likely to be an arms race?
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What did the U.S. recently admit about deploying weapons in orbit?
0:00–1:07
2
How might space‑based weapons actually work – kinetic vs. non‑kinetic?
1:07–2:34
3
Why could the U.S. announcement be aimed at deterring Russia or China?
2:34–3:51
4
What does the current international treaty regime say about weapons in space?
3:51–5:02
5
How could a space arms race affect civilian infrastructure and hybrid warfare?
5:02–6:23
6
What role do satellites play in modern military operations and what happens if they’re disabled?
6:23–7:30
7
Is militarising the Moon a realistic future threat despite existing treaties?
7:30–9:01