Russia launches ‘space weapon’ in path of US satellite: Pentagon

The United States says Russia has launched a satellite that US intelligence officials believe is a weapon capable of inspecting and attacking other satellites.

A Soyuz rocket blasted off from Russia’s Plesetsk launch site, about 800 km (500 miles) north of Moscow, on Thursday, putting into low Earth orbit at least nine satellites, including COSMOS 2576, a type of spacecraft ” Russian military inspector, US officials have long condemned as displaying reckless space behavior.

“We have observed nominal activity and assess that it is likely to be an anti-space weapon that is believed to be capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” a spokesman for the U.S. Space Command said in a statement on Tuesday. USA, part of the US Department of Defense.

“Russia placed this new anti-space weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite,” the statement said.

COSMOS 2576 resembles counterspace payloads previously deployed from 2019 and 2022, the statement added, referring to past Russian tactics of placing satellites near sensitive US spy satellites.

US intelligence agencies had been waiting for the launch of COSMOS 2576 and briefed allies on their assessment of the satellite before it was put into space, according to a US official familiar with the intelligence.

The launch also included civilian satellites placed in various orbits.

“This mix of military and civilian cargo was completely unexpected. I’ve never seen this before on a Russian launch,” said Bart Hendrickx, an analyst who follows Russia’s space program.

On Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denied the US assertion, saying Moscow opposed putting weapons into orbit, Russian news agencies TASS and Interfax reported.

“I don’t think we have to respond to any fake news from Washington,” he said.

Ryabkov said Russia was still in compliance with quantitative limits on nuclear weapons set by the New START treaty between Moscow and Washington.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia acted in full compliance with international law. “We are not violating anything. We have consistently advocated a ban on the placement of any weapons in space.”

Previous departures

The Russian satellite launched in 2019 dropped an object into space and closely followed a satellite from the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that oversees spy satellites.

As of Tuesday, COSMOS 2576 had not passed by a US satellite, but space analysts observed that it was in the same orbital ring as USA 314, a bus-sized NRO satellite launched in 2021.

The Russian satellite appears to be following the orbital path of USA 314 at a faster rate, suggesting the two will eventually get closer, according to a Reuters news agency review of orbital data in the Space Command’s public satellite catalog. .

The satellite was deployed as the US claims Russia is developing a space-based nuclear weapon capable of destroying entire networks of satellites.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in February that Moscow had no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space, insisting that his country has only developed space capabilities similar to those of the US.

US officials believe Russia has launched at least one satellite, COSMOS 2553, related to its space nuclear weapons program, according to officials familiar with the intelligence.

However, US officials have said that Russia has not deployed a nuclear weapon in space.

‘Peaceful intentions’

Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has shrouded much of its space activities in secrecy and threatened to attack US satellites that help defend Ukraine, such as SpaceX’s Starlink, a network of thousands of satellites in low earth orbit that provides internet service.

The US and Russia have been sparring in the United Nations Security Council over satellite weapons.

In 2020, Russia dismissed accusations by the US and UK that it had tested an anti-satellite weapon in space as “propaganda”.

At the time, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs insisted on Moscow’s “commitment to obligations for the non-discriminatory use and study of space for peaceful purposes”.