Ukraine has been secretly launching rockets into space from an ‘air spaceport’ flying at 26,000 feet, lawmaker says

• Ukraine is secretly carrying out airborne space launches while at war with Russia, a lawmaker has said.

• He said two rockets launched from Ukrainian airspace from an altitude of 26,000 feet crossed the Kármán line.

• Fedir Venislavskyi said the technology could help pave the way to counter Russia’s Oreshnik missile.

A senior Ukrainian lawmaker said his country recently quietly launched two rockets into space using a flying carrier, suggesting it was a potential tool for a one-day counterstrike. Russia’s hypersonic missiles.

Fedir Venislavskyi, chairman of the subcommittee on state security, defense and defense innovations of the Ukrainian parliament, told local media: RBC Ukraine It was stated that the space launches were carried out while Kyiv was actively fighting against Russian occupation.

“During the war, Ukraine launched a rocket launcher from a transport aircraft at an altitude of about 8,000 meters, which could also potentially be used to launch various types of spacecraft into orbit,” Venislavskyi said in the interview published on Monday. he said.

The lawmaker did not say exactly when the launches took place but said they were carried out under surveillance. Kyrylo Budanov the second while he was head of Ukraine’s intelligence services, or GUR. Budanov ran GUR until early January, when he was appointed to run the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Air-based space launches are not new, but they are largely a niche concept. For example, Northrop Grumman is developing the Pegasus rocket, which is launched from an aircraft at an altitude of 39,000 feet.

Between 2017 and 2023, Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit it also attempted to carry payload from a Boeing 747 into low Earth orbit with four successful missions.

According to Venislavskyi, one Ukrainian rocket reached an altitude of about 62 miles, while the second reached an altitude of 124 miles. The 62 mile marker is commonly known as the Kármán line and is widely accepted by scientists. the limit of space.

Launching the rocket from an altitude of 8,000 meters, or 26,000 feet, allows it to use less fuel because it will partially avoid denser parts of the atmosphere, Venislavskyi said.

He added that Ukraine aims to soon establish an initial network of about 7 to 10 satellites for surveillance and communications.

Venislavskyi said, “We have created an air system that can become an airport in the short term. We have created an air system that can be used both for peaceful purposes and against “Oreshnik”, that is, it can launch missiles from the air rather than from the ground.” he said.

Oreshnik is an experimental Russian hypersonic ballistic missile that travels in the upper atmosphere, its trajectory making it difficult to detect or intercept. It is also believed to employ Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRV) loadThis means that upon re-entry into the Earth’s lower atmosphere it is divided into multiple targets for air defense systems.

Russia greeted Oreshnik “unstoppable” It first used the missile against Ukraine in November 2024, but the attack reportedly involved fake explosives.

Although seen as a move by Russia to improve its technology, the launch increased pressure on the West and Ukraine to develop ways to counter such missiles. It is also known that China has a missile arsenal using the same or more. advanced hypersonic technology.

If possible, air-based space launches could be useful for rapid or cheaper launch of air defense or detection systems. USA is making prototypes space based interceptors Theoretically, it will detect and shoot down hypersonic missiles in the upper atmosphere.

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