On April 23 local time, Dmitry Rogozin, director of the Russian space agency and President of the Russian national space group, said in an interview with “Russia 24” television that the use of anti satellite weapons is likely to detonate the Third World War in the future.

Earlier, the United States announced that it would stop the test of helicopter anti satellite weapon (da-asat) and urged other countries to follow suit. In this regard, Rogozin said bluntly that the United States said so because their anti satellite weapons had been successfully developed and put into use, and then ran out to “pretend to be a dove of peace”.

Rogozin, President of Russian National Aerospace Group

Rogozin said in the interview that in the near future, mankind will live in a world where space weapons of mass destruction have become a reality. The use of anti satellite weapons by any country against another country will trigger the Third World War.

“It must be remembered that destroying other countries’ satellites will be the Third World War. In other words, this excuse for war (casus belli) is absolutely perfect.” Rogozin said.

Rogozin also stressed: “China and Russia jointly proposed a treaty banning space weapons, but the United States not only did not respond to this proposal, but also made some absurd remarks.”

On April 18, during his visit to the Vanderbilt space force base, US Vice President Harris announced that the United States would stop the test of helicopter anti satellite weapons (da-asat) and seek to take it as a “new international norm for responsible space behavior”. Harris also called on other countries to make similar commitments and jointly establish it as a norm, and said it would benefit all countries.

Harris announced on the 18th that the United States would stop the test of helicopter anti satellite weapons

The statement issued by the White House on the same day also specifically referred to Russia’s “destructive helicopter anti satellite missile test” in November last year, pointing the spearhead at Russia.

At that time, the US space command accused Russia’s anti satellite weapon test of creating a “space garbage cloud” in low earth orbit, threatening the safety of astronauts on the international space station. Russia admitted the test the same day, saying it hit a Russian satellite. Russia said that this activity strictly abides by international law, and the resulting debris will not pose any threat to space activities.

It is worth mentioning that the debris generated in this test also had a very dangerous rendezvous with China Tsinghua Science Satellite (No. 46026), with a nearest distance of 14.5 meters and a collision probability of 3.71 × 10-4。

Regarding Harris’ statement of “stopping helicopter ASAT weapon test” issued on the 18th, Rogozin tweeted: “I translated her words in Russian: the United States has completed a series of ASAT weapon tests and put them into service in the US space force.”

Rogozin tweeted back to Harris

In an interview on the 23rd, Rogozin once again said that the US statement was not credible. “Don’t trust those American representatives who call for a moratorium on the testing of anti satellite weapons. The United States has carried out and completed the necessary tests and put these weapons into use. Now it is time to pretend to be a dove of peace.”

For example, the secret small space plane X-37B of the United States can already carry reconnaissance instruments and such weapons, he said.

It is reported that the concept of “direct ascent anti satellite weapon” proposed by the United States to stop the test was first proposed and invented by the United States itself. The first relevant test in the United States can be traced back to the 1980s. For the space debris produced by such anti satellite weapon tests, the United States often emphasizes that its “interception altitude is low, and the debris will re-enter the atmosphere in a few weeks”.

Anti satellite weapon renderings source: Rogozin twitter

In response to the US statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on the 19th that the United States has long pursued the leading outer space strategy, openly defined outer space as a “combat territory”, and to this end, it has vigorously developed and deployed a variety of offensive outer space weapons such as directional energy and “anti satellite communication system”, so as to comprehensively promote the construction of military forces and combat preparations in outer space. The United States is the first country to carry out the helicopter anti satellite test and the country with the largest number of such tests. This time, the United States announced to stop the test of ground-based helicopter anti satellite weapons. What we want to ask is, why didn’t the United States announce not to use such weapons at the same time? Why doesn’t the US side announce that it will stop space-based and common orbit anti satellite tests and anti missile tests with anti satellite nature? Why does the US side not promise to prohibit the use of force against outer space objects?

Wang Wenbin said that China has always advocated the peaceful use of outer space, opposed the weaponization and arms race in outer space, and actively promoted the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind in the field of outer space. As early as 2008, China and Russia jointly put forward the draft outer space arms control treaty to the CD, which explicitly prohibits the placement of weapons in outer space and the use or threat of use of force against outer space objects. The draft treaty aims to eliminate threats to outer space security in a legally binding package, including kinetic energy anti satellite tests, and fundamentally maintain peace and security in outer space. However, this initiative has been opposed by the US side for a long time.

Wang Wenbin said: “we hope that the United States will truly shoulder its responsibilities as a big country, comprehensively review its series of negative actions in the field of outer space, stop the hypocritical practice of expanding unilateral military advantages in the name of arms control, stop blocking the negotiation process of legal instruments on arms control in outer space, and play its due role in maintaining lasting peace and security in outer space.”