This week, Space.com reports that surveillance satellites have spotted a laser attack facility under construction at Russia’s Krona space facility in the country’s southwest. Space.com in turn cites a white paper by the Space Review that analyzes not just the satellite images, but also Russian solicitation documents and contracts with space hardware developers, and none of it spells good news. The new laser bases would not just be so-called “dazzlers,” which temporarily render satellite optics useless, but blinding devices that permanently destroy the enemy satellites’ ability to see.
In Ukraine, Musk’s SpaceX is supplying satellites to replace the loss of the ground-based internet infrastructure which has been damaged by war. This is a potential answer to surveillance and communication satellites during a conflict.
The Kremlin needs a balanced budget because borrowing or over printing is out of the question. The Kremlin is cutting the budget including some of the military spending.
This is prior to the G7 deciding how much Russia can get for a barrel of oil.
For background, when the US examined Soviet war info during and after the Cold War, they found a lot of focus on what became known as Revolutions in Military Affairs (RMA’s). These are changes in technology/capabilities that change the nature of warfare. One example is the introduction of tanks during WWI - eliminating trench warfare. Another is aircraft carriers and naval airpower making battleship based fleets obsolete. The atomic bomb was another.
This has continued through advances in data gathering, precision weapons, improved anti-tank weapons, etc. Andrew Marshall, described in the book The Last Warrior, concluded that future warfare would be informational based. If you can locate the targets, precision weapons now exist - tactical and intercontinental - to destroy them. If the Chinese have the capabilities to destroy our carriers from a distance that would be another current example. RAM’s change the balances of power.
One key factor that caused the Cold War to end was that the USSR could not afford the level of defense spending it had based on its GDP. The US, guided by Marshall, recognized this and upped the stakes. The B-1 bomber forced the USSR to further defend its huge borders. The threats of “Star Wars” increased the potential for a first strike since it would lead to defenses against counter strikes. The USSR had to spend more to defend than the West to attack. This ultimately caused the USSR to collapse economically.
I think the Russians have learned this lesson. They can’t compete with the West in defense spending from an economic standpoint. So they’re concentrating on RMA’s - new ways to threaten the West beyond conventional means. Hypersonic weapons are one. Autonomous submarines carrying nuclear bombs are another. Exploded offshore, they can create massive radioactive tsunamis. They recently threatened the UK with such. Advanced tanks that they can’t afford to build. What options do they have other than new weapons and threats of nuclear warfare? Their conventional weapons have been exposed as lacking in the Ukraine.
Much of the West’s defense capabilities are based on GPS guided weapons and information. If Russia could take these out, it would be another RMA. The Chinese seem to be following the same thinking.
If you can’t outspend them, you must outsmart them. I don’t discount this as the current Russian policy.
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One key factor that caused the Cold War to end was that the USSR could not afford the level of defense spending it had based on its GDP.
The US, guided by Marshall, recognized this and upped the stakes. The B-1 bomber forced the USSR to further defend its huge borders.
The threats of “Star Wars” increased the potential for a first strike since it would lead to defenses against counter strikes.
The USSR had to spend more to defend than the West to attack. This ultimately caused the USSR to collapse economically.
Tru dat!
They can’t compete with the West in defense spending from an economic standpoint. So they’re concentrating on RMA’s - new ways to threaten the West beyond conventional means.
…
What options do they have other than new weapons and threats of nuclear warfare? Their conventional weapons have been exposed as lacking in the Ukraine.
Boy Howdy*!* and how*!*
Little Ukraine is beating their big butts so bad it’s embarrassing Russia on the world stage.
What was the antiquated old phrase they used to use? Oh yeah:‘the arsenal of Democracy’