Washington intends to develop its ability to disable other states’ satellites via ground-based jammers
Washington is close to boosting its offensive counterspace capability with new ground-based jammers designed to temporarily disable satellites deployed by Moscow and Beijing, Bloomberg wrote on Friday, citing sources in the US Space Force (USSF).
Having already tested the new systems earlier this year, the US will deploy 11 of 24 Remote Modular Terminal jammers in the coming months, the USSF told the newspaper. All are expected to be in place by the end of the year. The jammers aren’t meant to protect US satellites from jamming; rather, they aim to “counter adversary satellite communications capabilities,” the USSF has said.
The Space Force had previously described the terminals as “small, transportable, and low-cost satellite communications jammers,” designed “using commercial off-the-shelf components.”
The jammers will augment other electronic warfare systems such as the already deployed and much larger Counter Communications System and the medium-sized Meadowlands system by offering a more “proliferated, remotely controlled, and relatively relocatable capability,” according to the USSF. They noted the Meadowlands system has encountered development issues, delaying its rollout until at least October, two years later than planned.
These systems will not be “defensive weapons” but are intended to “attack rival capabilities,” said Victoria Samson, chief director of space security and stability at the Secure World Foundation. She classified it as an “offensive counterspace capability,” claiming that the system will be “reversible, temporary, non-escalatory, and allow for plausible deniability in terms of who the instigator is.”
Bloomberg contrasted the apparently offensive nature of these jamming systems with the Pentagon’s usual stance of positioning its “emerging satellite-jamming technology as purely defensive.” They juxtaposed this against the alleged high-altitude electromagnetic pulse weapons the US has accused Russia of developing.
Moscow and other member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are staunchly against the weaponization of space, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated to journalists earlier this month. Russia firmly stands against the deployment of any kind of weapons in space, he stressed.
