The Russians have a second missile called Burevestnik, an air-launched antisatellite missile

Leave it to the Russians to name two programs running simultaneously the exact same thing. To make matter worse, both programs are missiles. However, they are wildly different sorts of missiles.

The Burevestnik most people know about is nuclear ramjet powered nuclear cruise missile with a theoretical infinite range[1]. It uses an exposed nuclear reactor to superheat air for propulsion. The American equivalent never flew as it was deemed to be wildly insane, as in evil overlord crazy: this tells us much about you, Livermore! The American project was called Project Pluto. The Russians have been test flying (and crashing) this Burevestnik for some time. They even caused one to explode and cause a small nuclear incident in the White Sea. I have written about this Burevestnik before[2,3].

However, there is another Burevestnik missile that predates the naming of the Project Pluto-ski.

This one is an antisatellite missile[4].

This Burevestnik is an air launched missile carried by MiG-31 interceptors. It sounds, at first, a lot like the defunct Vought ASM-135A ASAT[5] fired by an F-15A. However, there are a massive number of differences. The ASM-135A was a direct assent to kill weapon: it would fire and then make the kill without attempting to be co-orbital. The Burevestnik missile appears to place a small satellite into orbit - massing about 100 kg - and that[/] appears to be the actual kill vehicle, albeit one with an explosive warhead. This is similar to other ASATs the Russians have had in the past[6], that change orbit to match their target and explode.

One of the problems with the old system was the target could pick up on the orbital changes and attempt to get out of the way of any blast. This could cause a bit of a chase, though not as exciting as in science fiction. Intentions were difficult to hide, you might say. The new Nudol[7] missile would allow for direct assent and kill, but with a far larger missile. One that was like that Chinese operational weapon[8]. The Burevestnik ASAT would allow for a snap launch and then cock the gun so to speak, while not allowing for the sat operator to be aware of what was happening or at least reduce the reaction time.

I strongly recommend the Space Review article. There are a lot of details in there.

That said, one can understand why the US went ahead with the Space Force. Space is no longer a safe haven and the US military is wildly dependent on it.

1. en.wikipedia.org...
2. www.abovetopsecret.com...
3. www.abovetopsecret.com...
4. www.thespacereview.com...
5. www.nationalmuseum.af.mil...
6. en.wikipedia.org...
7. www.abovetopsecret.com...
8. www.abovetopsecret.com...