Terrorists may attack US satellites by 2020

Washington, Jun 30: The US Defense Intelligence Agency has indicated that terrorists would be able to launch strikes on American satellites by 2020. In a presentation obtained by Danger Room from wired.com, Randy Jones, the associate technical director of the Defense Intelligence Agency's Missile and Space Intelligence Center, warned that terror groups could use lasers, radio frequency jammers, and even nuclear weapons to knock out US satellites.

The report said that countries like China might launch anti-satellite (ASAT) ballistic missiles, or position weapons in orbit. According to Jones, these states might be hesitant to start blasting American orbiters initially, but would probably be willing under appropriate conditions to attack. Jones' presentation, titled "Threats to Space Capabilities," was delivered to the Space Security and Defense Conference.

In it, he observes that advanced countries already "have the technical basis to develop" an ASAT arsenal, with the prominent example of China's 2007 satellite shoot-down.

He also noted that "rogue nation/terrorist(s)" could use jammers to interfere with satellite transmission; which is true as Air Force cadets have demonstrated similar abilities, again and again.

ANI