Administrator Biden announces self-imposed ban on anti-satellite weapons tests

The Biden administration has decided to implement a self-imposed ban on testing anti-satellite weapons, in part to highlight a Russian test in November created a dangerous field of space debrisTwo sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce the move on Monday during a visit to Vanderburg Space Force Base in California, sources said.

According to a document obtained by NBC News, administration officials told Congress the move was designed to address “the most pressing threats to security and sustainability of spaceas demonstrated by Russia’s November 2021 test of a destructive straight-flying ASAT missile. “

On November 15, 2021, an interceptor missile launched in northern Russia struck a Soviet-era COSMOS 1408 satellite, create a large debris field More than 1,500 pieces of debris can be tracked in low Earth orbit, the US Space Command said.

The administration told Congress.

Republicans are skeptical of a unilateral testing ban that Russia and China are unlikely to sign, a GOP congressional aide said.

An administration official declined to discuss the announcement, but said, “the visit to Vandenberg Space Force Base represents the vice president’s continued involvement in space. The Vice President will discuss our ongoing work to develop standards in space that advance U.S. and international interests and maintain the security and sustainability of space. “

The official added that Harris will be meeting with members of the US Space Force and Space Command, and that her focus is on “raising the standards for peaceful and responsible behavior in space.”

Harris is the president of National Space Councilheld its first meeting in December. She said at the meeting: “Without clear standards for responsible use of space, we face a real threat to security. our national and global.

One think tank report warned earlier this month that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are developing or improving anti-satellite weapons.

“The broad and profound reliance is our collective reliance on the spatial and spatial assets that these threats – from kinetic attacks, to other actions cause damage to. physical, electronic, cyber-harm – will spur retaliatory actions within the United States, with our partners, and in a way that includes the private sector,” said former principal vice president of National intelligence agency Sue Gordon wrote in a previous article.

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