CHANTILLY, Va. — As the Ukraine crisis escalates, U.S. National Reconnaissance Office Director Christopher Scolese warned that Russia’s military could target satellites to disrupt communications and GPS services. 

“I think we’re seeing pretty clearly that Russia is committed to doing what they want to do in Ukraine, and they want to win,” Scolese said Feb. 23 at the National Security Space Association’s Defense and Intelligence Space Conference.

“So I think it’s fair to assume that, to the extent that they can, and to the extent that they feel it won’t extend the conflict out of their control, that they will extend it into space,” Scolese said. 

The NRO operates U.S. government-owned spy satellites, but increasingly a lot of imagery and intelligence is collected and distributed by commercial satellite operators like Maxar, Planet, BlackSky, and others, so any attempt to disrupt the United States’ ability to gather intelligence could impact private and public assets. 

Scolese did not comment specifically on what actions the Russians might take, but he said it’s easy to imagine based on past behavior. “They are already doing GPS jamming, as an example.”

Scolese said both government and commercial satellites systems are potential targets. “I would tell everybody that the important thing is to go off and ensure that your systems are secure and that you’re watching them very closely because we know that the Russians are effective cyber actors.”

“And, again, it’s hard to say how far their reach is going to go in order to achieve their objectives. But it’s better to be prepared than surprised,” he added. 

For years, the U.S. military has worried that Russia and China will try to jam U.S. GPS and communications satellites during a conflict. 

In addition to denying GPS through electronic jamming attacks, Russia could also target U.S. military GPS users with falsified PNT data, a technique known as spoofing. A GPS outage could wreak havoc across all military activities involving aircraft, ships, munitions, land vehicles and ground troops. “In an active military conflict, even brief denials and spoofing of PNT might make a difference if well-timed with other operations,” said a RAND Corp. report.

Quelle: SN

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US space leaders warn sat operators to beware likely Russian interference

"We've been talking about the fact that space is contested, and we're probably right in the middle now of our first space fight," said Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein.

CHANTILLY, VA: As Russia moves into Ukraine, senior US space officials today warned operators of both military and commercial satellites to be on the lookout for Russian meddling with systems that provide services to the region.

While indicating such targeting of American satellite companies is likely, officials did stop short of confirming that the US has seen such interference thus far.

“I think it’s fair to assume that, to the extent that [Russia] can, and to the extent that they feel it won’t extend the conflict out of their control, they will extend it into space,” Chris Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) told a conference here sponsored by the National Security Space Association (NSSA). “How they’re going to do that? What they’re going to do? I mean, you could imagine they’re already doing GPS jamming, as an example, and doing things against Ukraine.

“I would say for everybody that the important thing is to go off and make sure that your systems are secure and that you’re watching them very closely, because we know that the Russians are effective cyber actors,” he said, adding that “it’s better to be prepared than to be surprised.”

Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, head of Space Force Space Systems Command, mined a similar vein in his fireside chat during the conference.

“We’ve been talking about the fact that space is contested, and we’re probably right in the middle now of our first space fight,” he said. “We have no doubt that the Russians have been preparing to negate our ability to use space for defense and for peace. And we’re starting to see those effects.”

Guetlein later clarified to Breaking Defense that he did not mean to imply that Space Force has seen specific interference with US satellites as Russia strides toward a full blown invasion of Ukraine; rather he was talking about Moscow’s recent flexing of its counterspace muscles, such as its November anti-satellite weapons test.

US government and commercial satellites are providing a range of services and capabilities — such as communications, GPS navigation signals and imagery of Russian troop movements — to Western forces gathering in Eastern Europe. The Ukrainian government, like many countries around the world, also uses GPS, and it is likely, although not confirmed, that Washington is sharing spy satellite images with Kyiv as well.

During Russia’s invasion of Crimea nearly a decade ago, the Obama White House allowed imagery from NRO satellites to be shared with Kyiv, although according to a 2015 report in the Wall Street Journal that imagery was degraded to avoid Russian wrath and protect US capabilities.

But what Ukrainian decision-makers have today, that they did not during the Crimean war, is access to imagery being provided publicly for free by a number of US commercial remote sensing firms, such as Maxar, Planet, and Capella.

Those same firms, along with a handful of others from the US and abroad, also are providing their imagery to the NRO as the spy agency seeks to expand its reach, vacuum up innovative tech, and improve its ability to share unclassified information with allies.