A US space force general says Russia is using space weapons in the war in Ukraine to jam GPS signals from US satellites used by the Ukrainians.
According to General B. Chance Saltzman, head of US space operations, in addition to jamming equipment, Russia also has lasers and missiles capable of destroying satellites.
“They have not been very reticent when testing these systems… And they have every intention of using space weapons in conflicts, as we can see in the war in Ukraine. We’ve seen cyber attacks on satellite ISPs, as well as constant SATCOM and GPS jamming.” Saltzman said. The general also added that outer space has now unquestionably become a war zone.
By the way, Russia has now targeted the Navstar GPS system, which is operated by the US space force, and has made it available to many other countries in addition to Ukraine.
The Russians are also interfering with the signals of SpaceX’s satellites
The US space force has been aware of jamming GPS signals since last April.
“Ukraine may not be able to use GPS because there are signal jammers in the area that prevent Ukrainians from getting any usable signal.” David Thompson, General of the Space Force, said in an interview at the time.
In addition, according to Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, Russia is also interfering with the signals of Starlink satellites:
“Some Starlink terminals near the war zone were disrupted for several hours.” Musk wrote on Twitter in March 2022. “Our latest software update bypasses the jamming.” the billionaire added.
The Russians in November 2021 large-scale test carried out with their anti-satellite weapons, but so far not a single foreign satellite has been destroyed. According to Anne Maruin, geopolitical researcher of the French Air Force, this caution stems from the fact that Russia would not risk an open war with a great power in the current situation.
According to Maurin, Russia also has fewer space weapons than the United States or China. By the way, even the head of the Russian space agency admitted this in a statement last year:
“In a situation where it is necessary to help our armed forces, we have rather modest resources at our disposal. That worries me personally.”