Russia’s Space Nuke Is Real and Potentially Devastating

For Russia, space is just another battlefield. 

And if Vladimir Putin and his cronies are willing to deploy nuclear weapons on Earth, they certainly won’t have any problem sending them into orbit. 

On Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb testified before the House Armed Services Committee. He gave a grim warning.

“The concept that we are concerned about is Russia developing, if we are unable to convince them otherwise, to ultimately fly a nuclear weapon in space, which would be an indiscriminate weapon,” Plumb said. 

(Note: If you missed it, I talked a little bit about some of America’s space initiatives and the strategic importance of space during my last appearance on the Angel Research Podcast.)

The Resurgence of Russia’s Space Nuke

News of Russia’s space nuke first broke back in February, when House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner ominously warned the public of a “serious national security threat” and called on President Biden to declassify it.

That caused a stir, but after a few days most of the media and public had moved on to the next thing. However, that doesn’t mean the threat itself dissipated. Quite the opposite — it escalated.

The United Nations responded to the unsettling report with a Security Council resolution that would reaffirm the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons (or any other weapons for that matter) in space.

And on April 24, Russia vetoed that resolution, while China abstained.

“Why?” asked Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

“Why, if you are following the rules, would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding? It’s baffling. And it’s a shame.”

Well, it’s not baffling. We know why. It’s because Russia wants to wipe out every single satellite operating in low Earth orbit. That’s what Plumb means when he describes Russia’s space nuke as “indiscriminate.”

The Outsized Importance of Low Earth Orbit

You see, space is full of radiation. So any satellite placed beyond the reach of low Earth orbit is “hardened” against it. However, satellites in low Earth orbit typically are not hardened, and thus are vulnerable to a radiological attack. 

That’s what a space nuke would achieve. It would blanket low Earth orbit with more radiation than any satellite could withstand. It could also render low Earth orbit unusable for quite some time — even a year or more.

This would suit Russia nicely, because the United States has more satellites in low Earth orbit than any other country. In fact, in general the United States has roughly 3,500 satellites in orbit, whereas the rest of the world combined has fewer than 1,400. Russia only has 172.

Many, if not most, of those satellites are in low Earth orbit, including Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighting Space Architecture and SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.

Both of those would be prime targets for Russia. Especially since the Starlink constellation is what’s been providing internet connectivity to Ukraine, giving the country a vital lifeline in its effort to fend off Russia’s invasion. 

Additionally, Russia and China are both believed to have deployed other space-based weapons that could be used to neutralize American satellites. That includes “Gremlin” satellites. Gremlins are effectively space robots that can be used to disable enemy satellites — either by deploying munitions or simply ramming into them.

“We can say that Russia is deploying and developing prototype kinetic weapons in space,” said Plumb. “We can see that China has developed robotic satellites that are really probably dual-use — they can be used for non-military purposes but they can clearly also be used for military purposes like grappling a satellite.”

Again, that’s bad enough. But a space nuke would be much much worse, as it would wipe out thousands of satellites — both military and commercial. 

And in fact, the threat of such an attack is growing every day. Not just because Russia is a belligerent nation run by a dreadful dictator — but because the number of satellites being launched into the sky continues to ramp up exponentially. 

America, alone, has ramped up its satellite launches by more than 10-fold over the past decade. And thousands more satellites are set to launch in the coming years. 

That’s why the space economy itself is such a huge investment opportunity. As it stands right now, we don’t even have enough launch capacity to meet demand. 

However, that too is set to change, as an up-and-coming launch provider recently rose to the task of challenging SpaceX directly. It’s now poised to profit handsomely as a result. 

You can find out more about that stock here.

Fight on,

Jason Simpkins

Simpkins is the founder and editor of Secret Stock Files, an investment service that focuses on companies with assets — tangible resources and products that can hold and appreciate in value. He covers mining companies, energy companies, defense contractors, dividend payers, commodities, staples, legacies and more…

In 2023 he joined The Wealth Advisory team as a defense market analyst where he reviews and recommends new military and government opportunities that come across his radar, especially those that spin-off healthy, growing income streams. For more on Jason, check out his editor’s page.

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