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Russian General Doesn't Rule Out Weapons in Space
By Interfax
posted: 10:14 am ET
31 May 2001
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MOSCOW (Interfax) -- Russian Space Force commander Col MOSCOW (Interfax) -- Russian Space Force commander Col. Gen. Anatoly Perminov has not ruled out the possibility that arms may be deployed in space in the future. "If there is a sphere of deployment -- outer space -- it is possible that in the 21st century some types of arms may be deployed in it," he said on Wednesday responding to questions from Interfax in Moscow. Perminov stressed that deployment of arms in space is possible only with the consent of the international community. "No separate country, even a superpower, can take such steps on its own because this will inevitably lead to an arms race in space. If any one country places arms in space, others will follow," he said. "As long as outer space has existed, there have been attempts to place arms in it, no matter how this has been concealed," Perminov said. However, he said that the Soviet Union, and later Russia, renounced the deployment of arms in space. "Neither the United States nor any other country has deployed a single type of[weapon] in space yet," he said. Space Force on course Perminov said the headquarters of the new arm of Russia's military -- the Space Force -- will start operating on June 1. The headquarters are already 70 to 80 percent staffed, he said."All the units and formations of the Space Force are capable of fulfilling their tasks despite the existing problems," he said. In particular, he noted that the vast nation's satellite constellation, monitored and operated by a number of outposts in Russian territory stretching "between St. Petersburg and Kamchatka," is aging and in a state of declining health. " Control is exercised by equipment, much of which has run out of its service life. There are satellites with a service life of three to four years that have been operating for six to seven years," he said.This year the Space Force should receive a number of new satellites, among them "new systems to control the launches of ballistic missiles from nuclear submarines," he said. Perminov said military space program funding this year has doubled or tripled compared to last year.
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