Germany's top military space commander, Major General Michael Traut, has warned that Russia may be developing technology to place a nuclear explosive device in orbit. Such a development could have devastating consequences for modern societies and militaries that rely heavily on satellite services for communication, navigation, banking, transport, and targeting.
Traut stated that a nuclear detonation in space, similar to the U.S. Starfish Prime test in 1962, could disable up to one-third of all satellites in low-Earth orbit and potentially render certain orbital altitudes unusable for decades, exacerbating space debris issues and increasing collision risks.
This warning comes as Germany is prioritizing space in its defense policy, with the Bundeswehr aiming to protect allied access to space and restrict adversaries' use of it. The threats in space are described as having "massively developed," ranging from GPS jamming and laser interference to physical attacks on satellites, with GPS jamming already a daily reality in regions like the Baltic.
Germany's strategy includes acquiring non-kinetic systems such as jammers and lasers, alongside inspection satellites and, in the longer term, spaceplanes. The country is also developing its own sovereign military satellite communications constellation, SATCOMBw 4, intended to complement rather than compete with the EU's IRIS² constellation and to bring European partners into the network.
