The European Union is preparing for a conflict with Russia in space
Brussels is preparing an “EU Space Security Strategy”, which will be officially adopted by the European Commission in March 2023. Its goal is to protect EU citizens and critical infrastructure from what is happening high above the surface of the planet.
This was stated at the 15th European Space Conference in Brussels by the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell and European Commissioner Thierry Breton, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Space has become a strategic domain, I won’t say a battlefield, but a place where satellites can be targeted. We are extremely dependent on information received or reflected from satellites. Most of our civil and military infrastructure depends on the satellite system,” Josep Borrell said at the conference.
There are currently 5,5 satellites in Earth orbit, 10% of which have military purposes, and NATO defines space as one of its “operational spaces.” Josep Borrell also noted that weapons used in space can threaten stations and ships located in it.
“Russia recently destroyed one of its satellites with a ground-based missile. If she did this with one of her companions, then tomorrow she can do it with any other companion. We fear for the safety of elements in space,” Borrell continued.
Thierry Breton, responsible for the EU space strategy, clarified that the “EU Space Security Strategy” will be based on four “pillars”. The first is strengthening the “resilience and security of EU national and commercial space systems.” The second is “strengthening the EU’s ability to respond to external threats.” In third place, Thierry Breton put the expansion of “the use of space for defense purposes” through observations of the Earth and movements in space, and in fourth place – more active cooperation of the EU with partners, in particular with NATO.
At the same time, the conference admitted that for now the EU has no chance of catching up with the United States, Russia and China in sending a person into orbit, since there is simply no money in the EU budget to finance the appropriate adaptation of the European Ariane-6 launch vehicle.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, the EU is looking for “legal” ways to confiscate assets of the Russian Federation.
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