The Space Force added a new weapon to its arsenal, a device designed to blast electromagnetic beams to silence adversary satellites in space. The Meadowlands Counter Communications System, developed by L3Harris Technologies, was added to the military branch’s fleet of electromagnetic warfare systems on June 8, the Space Force recently announced. The device is able to “detect, deny, disrupt, and degrade adversary capabilities in active defense of joint force objectives,” to create a so-called silence zone, according to the Space Force. The recent acquisition highlights the U.S. military’s focus on space-based warfare, heavily investing in the Space Force’s capabilities to be able to counter enemies in orbit. Space jam Meadowlands is an antenna dish mounted on top of a wheeled trailer and is designed to be loaded on board a large transporter aircraft. It’s an upgraded, more compact version of the Space Force’s Counter Communications System (CCS) Block 10.2, a deployable, ground-based system designed to cut off communications from satellites.
The new anti-satellite system beams electromagnetic radiation, targeting adversary spacecraft by blasting their uplink and downlink signals to essentially silence them. Meadowlands’ counter-signal is designed to be aimed directly at an adversarial satellite’s receiving antenna. As a result, the targeted satellite would not be able to receive commands or process critical telemetry, which would interfere with its basic functions and disrupt its hardware and software operations.
