CHANTILLY, Va. — Prime U.S. area officers this week mentioned it’s possible Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will lengthen to area, predicting continued GPS jamming and spoofing and urging navy and business area operators to be ready for doable cyber assaults.
“Be certain that your programs are safe and that you just’re watching them very intently as a result of we all know that the Russians are efficient cyber actors,” Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace Director Chris Scolese mentioned Feb. 23 throughout a Nationwide Safety Area Affiliation convention in Chantilly, Va. “It’s onerous to say how far their attain goes to go with a purpose to obtain their goals, but it surely’s higher to be ready than stunned.”
Studies from the Safe World Basis and the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research doc Russia’s use of non-kinetic disruptive area capabilities in Ukraine lately, together with spoofing and jamming in addition to cyber assaults.
“Russia locations a excessive precedence on integrating digital warfare into navy operations and has been investing closely in modernizing this functionality,” the Safe World Basis mentioned in its 2021 International Counterspace Capabilities report. “Russia has a mess of programs that may jam GPS receivers inside an area space, probably interfering with the steering programs of unmanned aerial autos, guided missiles and precision guided munitions, however has no recognized functionality to intervene with GPS satellites themselves utilizing radio frequency interference.”
One such digital warfare platform is the Tirada-2, which entered service in 2019. In keeping with SWF, the system can reportedly performing uplink jamming on communication satellites. One other system, Bylina-MM, is being designed to “suppress the on-board transponders” of some communication satellites.
In its 2021 Area Risk Evaluation, the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research famous that Russia’s arsenal of digital counterspace capabilities embrace two radar jammers — Karushka-2 and Karushka-4 — which may intervene with radar reconnaissance satellites.
Scolese mentioned this week it’s possible Russia will make use of jamming and spoofing capabilities to some extent – although he famous it’s not clear how far it would go.
“I believe it’s honest to imagine that to the extent that they will and to the extent that they really feel it gained’t lengthen the battle out of their management, that they may lengthen it into area,” he mentioned. “You’ll be able to think about they’re already doing GPS jamming, for instance, and doing issues in opposition to Ukraine.”
Kinetic weapons
As for kinetic counterspace capabilities, Russia’s most up-to-date demonstration of a direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon in November created an estimated 1,500 items of particles. Talking on the NSSA convention Feb. 23, Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, head of the Area Pressure’s acquisition command, mentioned actions just like the latest ASAT take a look at reinforce Russia’s curiosity in denying area entry to adversaries.
Chief of Area Operations Gen. John Raymond has on a number of events referred to Russia’s July 2020 take a look at of what he calls a “nesting doll” functionality. The take a look at — which CSIS mentioned in its report was extra subtle than some earlier ASAT demonstrations — concerned a Cosmos 2542 satellite tv for pc that contained a smaller Cosmos 2543 area automobile inside it. Through the 2020 take a look at, the smaller satellite tv for pc fired a projectile close to one other Russian satellite tv for pc.
“That is additional proof of Russia’s persevering with efforts to develop and take a look at space-based programs, and according to the Kremlin’s revealed navy doctrine to make use of weapons that maintain U.S. and allied area property in danger,” Raymond mentioned on the time.
CSIS notes in its report that Cosmos 2543 was very lively after being launched from its “mom satellite tv for pc.”
“Earlier than firing the projectile in July 2020, the inspector satellite tv for pc was continually altering its orbit to synchronize with different Russian satellites,” the report states. “That is out of the abnormal for many satellites, which hardly ever maneuver on this approach.”
Whereas not an on-orbit functionality, Russia has additionally developed an plane known as the Beriev A-60, which detects and tracks satellites with the intent of aiming laser beams at them, in keeping with the SWF report. The plane has flown a number of instances since 2010, and the nation is reportedly putting in a laser on it.
SPACECOM Help
U.S. Area Command head Gen. James Dickinson mentioned this week that area items are at the moment taking part in a supporting position to U.S. European Command to make sure it has “the area results obligatory to reply and characterize the state of affairs in Ukraine.
SPACECOM’s Joint Built-in Area Groups, that are made up of intelligence planners and area professionals, have been working intently with EUCOM to coordinate area capabilities and combine them into the command’s planning actions.
Dickinson mentioned one in all his command’s supporting features has been to offer battlespace consciousness of the area area and supply the missile warning and GPS-enabled monitoring capabilities over EUCOM.
Scolese famous that the response of the area enterprise to the continuing Russian aggression in Ukraine is displaying how built-in U.S. businesses are in offering key capabilities in a time of battle.
“What we do in area and our know-how and our partnerships are actually coming to bear, and it’s going to point out how we work collectively as a group to realize some very important goals and to grasp what’s occurring on the earth,” he mentioned.
Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s area and rising know-how reporter. She beforehand lined the U.S. Air Pressure and U.S. Area Pressure for Inside Protection.
