Russia is planning to place a nuclear weapon in space to target satellites in an attack that could spark chaos worldwide, it has been claimed. A top US military chief has warned Moscow is considering putting a nuclear anti-satellite weapon into orbit which could destroy thousands of satellites and cripple communications across the globe.
Speaking to Times America, General Stephen Whiting, head of US Space Command, said America was “very concerned” about the Kremlin’s plans, which he said form part of a wider pattern of Russian aggression in space since the war in Ukraine began. The four-star general warned Russia has already been carrying out “sustained satellite communication and GPS jamming” on such a scale that it is “putting civilian airliners at risk”. Speaking on The Times podcast The General & The Journalist, Gen Whiting said: “Russia remains a sophisticated space power and they continue to invest in counter-space weapons. “They are thinking about placing in orbit a nuclear anti-satellite weapon that would hold at risk everyone’s satellites in low Earth orbit, and that would be an outcome that we just couldn’t tolerate.”
He said Russia sees the US and Nato as too strong in conventional warfare and believes attacking space systems could “level the battlefield”.
Gen Whiting said: “From a Russian perspective, they look at the United States, they look at Nato and they see an overmatch there of conventional arms.
“And they believe that novel ways of trying to undermine the United States and Nato, such as by neutralising our space capabilities, helps them to level the battlefield.
“I won’t speak about our intelligence sources and methods, but obviously it’s a report that we’re very concerned about.”
A nuclear weapon in orbit would be a major breach of the Outer Space Treaty, which Russia has signed.
The warning is the strongest public intervention yet from a senior US military officer on the threat posed by Moscow.
Russia’s alleged ambitions first emerged in February 2024 when Pentagon officials briefed members of Congress behind closed doors.
Since then, the US House intelligence committee has been pressing the White House to declassify information about the project so politicians can discuss the scale of the threat.
Experts fear a nuclear blast in low Earth orbit could destroy up to 10,000 satellites – around 80% of all those currently in space.
Military intelligence, communications, internet, mobile phone services and GPS could all be crippled in a scenario dubbed a “Space Pearl Harbor”.
Gen Whiting also warned Russia’s GPS jamming is already affecting civilian flights across eastern and southern Europe. He said: “When we put at risk civilian airliners full of citizens just trying to go on business or holiday, that’s incredibly problematic.”
He said both Russia and China are rapidly building space weapons, with Beijing developing jammers, directed energy weapons and anti-satellite rockets.
The general urged Sir Keir Starmer’s government to spend far more on Britain’s space defences.
Britain currently spends less than 1% of its defence budget on space, compared with 4% in Germany and 3% in France.
Gen Whiting warned the next major global conflict will “likely be a war that starts in space”.
He said rival nations have watched how heavily the US and its allies rely on satellites and space technology for modern warfare.
Despite the growing space arms race, he insisted a conflict in orbit is “not inevitable”.
He added: “Our goal each and every day is to wake up and deter that from happening so that mankind can continue to take advantage of all the benefits of space.”
