Britain and US ramp up drills to counter ‘devastating’ Russian nuclear space threat

Peter Stevens
Wed, 15 Apr 2026 04:51:49 +0000

Britain and the US have ramped up drills to counter a potential Russian nuclear strike from space.

On Tuesday, America's top military space commander warned the US must change its approach in order to prevail in future conflicts - which could be waged outside Earth's atmosphere.

The potential use of a nuclear anti-satellite strike by Russia was the theme of a wargame involving US Space Command and allies, including the UK.

General Stephen Whiting, told Space Symposium attendees on Tuesday that the reported development of the weapon was the focus of an exercise which concluded last month.

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"We just concluded our first [exercise] last month, and it was an event focused on weapons of mass destruction in orbit - a development we do not want to see come to fruition, but reporting about Russia’s plans to launch such a weapon, and that has forced us to prepare," General Whiting said.

In May 2024, the US said it believed Russia had launched an anti-satellite nuclear weapon.

At the time, Moscow accused the Biden administration of fabricating the allegations in a bid to force Congress to approve additional aid to Ukraine.

Sergey Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, denied the claims, saying it was "fake news from Washington".

At the time, a spokesman for the US Space Command said: "We have observed nominal activity and assess it is likely a counter-space weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit.

"Russia deployed this new counter-space weapon into the same orbit as a US Government satellite."

Participating in the "worst-case scenario" Apollo Insight Commercial Integration exercise were US Space Command commercial partners along with allies Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK.

Also taking part were representatives from 17 different US Government agencies, including Nasa, the Department of Energy, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Chief Master Sargeant Jacob Simmons, said: "Space is no longer a supporting supplement…it is a central system woven into the web of our modern life.

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"From markets to medicine, from agriculture to aviation, from navigation to notification, we are all synchronized with space."

He added: "If and when space is struck down, all of society is struck down."

General Whiting and US Space Command did not disclose the results of the wargame, but a weapon would inflict "devastation" to satellites, Defense One reported.

He also stressed the importance of satellites capable of changing their position in space amid fears US satellites could be tracked, targeted, or interfered with in conflict.

He said: "We need a different strategy to deter and win a global, protracted conflict against a great power. That strategy is maneuver warfare."

Future satellites might be designed with more propulsion in order to change orbits, which would introduce more real-time decision making in the atmosphere ahead of future conflicts.

The Space Symposium is currently taking place in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Describing itself as the "only event with the highest level of senior government officials, military leaders, industry leaders and space experts", speakers also include Jared Isaacman, Nasa administrator, Michael Kratsios, science advisor to the President, and Dr Josef Aschbacher, the director general of the European Space Agency.