The US military is considering the possibility of making a public demonstration of one of their space weapons.
Little is known right now about the weapon
Discussions among senior American military officials have been taking place for more than a year to decide whether to reveal this new weapon. Very few details are known since it is classified information, but it was developed as a special access program.
Last year the Trump administration considered displaying the weapon at a prestigious event for the national defense community.
However, the idea was to show it as a validation of the Space Force and the Space Command, which is the body responsible for the military operations in outer space. The problem was that COVID-19 caused the conference to be canceled.
It was planned to teach it this weekBut the current situation in Afghanistan has disrupted plans. Even so, it is believed that it will finally be this year when said weapon can be seen.
It would be used to protect American satellites
The purpose of this weapon is protect American satellites. In recent years, countries like China or Russia have shown anti-satellite capabilities, which could be used against the United States to degrade, disrupt or destroy systems that the American nation has in orbit.
That is why the United States has as main objective deterring attacks that are directed to their satellites. In addition, the objective of displaying the weapon publicly would be a message for all those nations that plan to attack American satellites, since these countries would know that their attacks would become useless.
It is unknown whether this technology would be placed in space or on the ground. Rumors drop that the weapon may feature the following technical specifications: a land mobile laser used to blind adversary reconnaissance satellites, a radio frequency blocker activated by proximity aboard military satellites or a microwave system high power. The latter could attack electronic systems.
It seems that little by little even space is becoming a terrain where wars could occur. In addition, there have already been several countries that have developed anti-satellite technologies. France announced plans to develop nano-satellites that will patrol within a few kilometers of the satellites, as well as a laser system to blind satellites or even place machine guns on them.