US says Russia likely to launch a space weapon

The US says Russia launched a satellite last week that it believes may be able to attack other such probes.

“Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we assess is likely to be an anti-space weapon,” Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said Tuesday evening.

It was in the “same orbit” as a US government satellite, he said, adding that Washington would continue to monitor the situation and should be ready to defend its interests.

Russia has not publicly commented on the matter.

Moscow and Washington – two global rivals – have clashed repeatedly over the issue of space weapons at the UN in recent weeks, with both sides accusing each other of seeking to militarize space.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the US was seeking to turn space into an “arena for military confrontation”.

A number of military experts have long warned that space is likely to be the next frontier of warfare in an increasingly technology-dependent world.

On Tuesday, General Ryder said the Pentagon believed the Russian satellite was “apparently capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit”.

“Russia put this new anti-space weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite.

“And so the estimates further show characteristics that resemble previously located payloads of opposite space, from 2019 and 2022.

“We have a responsibility to be ready to defend and protect the domain, the space domain, and to provide continuous and uninterrupted support to the Joint and Combined Forces,” the Pentagon spokesman added.

Separately, a spokesman for the US Space Command told the Reuters news agency that the satellite was “likely an anti-space weapon, apparently capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit”.

The spokesman said the satellite – Cosmos 2576 – was launched on May 16 from Russia’s Plesetsk cosmodrome, about 800 km (497 miles) north of Moscow.

In its statement, Russia’s state space agency Roskosmos said the May 17 launch was “in the interest of the defense ministry of the Russian Federation.” It said its Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle had been used.

The different reported departure dates can be explained by the fact that Moscow’s time zone is three hours ahead of GMT.

Neither Moscow nor Washington gave further details.

But space analysts say Cosmos 2576 appears to be in the same orbit as the US satellite USA 314.

Since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has warned that US satellites assisting the Ukrainian military could become legitimate targets.

In February, the White House acknowledged that Russia was developing a “disturbing” new space weapon, but insisted it had not yet deployed it.

It came after a top Republican congressman issued a cryptic warning about a serious national security threat, sparking intense speculation around Washington DC.

A report released by the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies last year suggested that Russia is developing a variety of anti-satellite weapons (ASAT), including a missile that was successfully tested against a defunct satellite of the era Soviet in November 2021. .