MOSCOW, July 29. /TASS/. The development of Russian and Chinese hypersonic missile systems has negatively affected the US military-space projects and called into question the security level of the satellite cluster expected to cope with missile warning tasks, Alexander Stepanov, a military expert and program director of the Academy of Political Sciences, senior research fellow at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has told TASS.
"The US space forces are concerned about the security level of their satellite cluster that is responsible for coping with missile warning tasks. To expand the capabilities of the missile warning system a Space Tracking and Surveillance System is being developed. However, Russian and Chinese hypersonic technologies have upset all plans of the US military-space contractors. In fact, all of their previous multi-billion-dollar projects have proved futile," Stepanov said.
He explained that the US space forces find very worrisome the anti-satellite capabilities of China and Russia, as well as the low resistance of the orbital cluster to the potential impact of nuclear weapons. According to the expert, the US military-industrial complex has fast-tracked research into satellites capable of detecting launches and tracking high-accuracy hypersonic weapons.
Stepanov recalled that the US had also launched the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture project - another component of the large-scale orbital missile attack warning system. In 2023, 23 PWSA satellites were put into orbit and another 160 are to be orbited by the end of 2024. In the long term the cluster will consist of about one thousand satellites. He remarked that communication between them is to be ensured through high-speed laser data transmission channels, which has already been successfully tested between civilian Starlink satellites.
Cost-ineffective project
The expert noted that the US Space Command recognized it would be cost-ineffective to put into orbit very expensive systems. The reason is that they are in the crosshairs of Russian and Chinese anti-satellite systems.
"The service's new strategy moves away from these sophisticated but ineffective capabilities and instead relies on building and launching large numbers of small satellites into lower orbits. The Space Development Agency (SDA) and Space Systems Command (SSC) are overseeing this effort. The current plans envisage the segmenting of satellite clusters and deploying hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbits of up to 2,000 kilometers, with some satellites to be launched into medium-Earth orbit of up to 35,000 kilometers," Stepanov said. The US Space Force is also working with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to develop five radiation-protected satellites of the next generation.
The US, Stepanov said, has embarked on a systematic path of comprehensive militarization of near-Earth orbits.
"However, mammoth spending from the pockets of US taxpayers is wasted on projects that become conceptually outdated and obsolete with every passing year. As for defense contractors, they find this scheme more than acceptable. The boards of directors and shareholders of the largest players in the market look pretty happy," the military expert stressed.