The United States and the United Kingdom accused Russia of testing an anti-satellite weapon in space, in the latest sign that a space-based arms race is heating up.
General John Raymond, head of the new US Space Force, said the alleged test of a projectile, conducted on July 15, was “further evidence of Russia’s continued efforts to develop and test systems based on In space, and consistent with the Kremlin’s published army doctrine to employ weapons that keep American and allied space assets at risk. “
He said the weapon was launched from one of two satellites that it maneuvered near a United States government satellite earlier this year. Russia has insisted that its space activities are purely peaceful, but Raymond said that the activities of the spacecraft involved in the launch were inconsistent with its official designation as an inspection satellite.
A statement from the United States Space Command said Russia carried out similar “orbiting activity” in 2017, an apparent reference to a previously unreported Russian test of a satellite-launched weapon.
The head of the UK space directorate, deputy air marshal Harvey Smyth, said: “We are concerned about the way Russia tested one of its satellites by launching a projectile with the characteristics of a weapon.”
Actions of this type threaten the peaceful use of space and risk causing debris that could pose a threat to the satellites and space systems on which the world depends. We call on Russia to avoid further such tests.
“We also urge Russia to continue to work constructively with the United Kingdom and other partners to encourage responsible behavior in space.”
There are no recorded cases of evidence of such anti-satellite weapons launched into space by other countries. Both the United States and China have destroyed their own malfunctioning satellites with missiles fired from the sea and land, respectively. But most military activities in space are highly secret.
“I don’t want to speculate on what the United States does or does not do,” said Tom Karako, director of the anti-missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I think it’s fair to say that we meet expectations for good behavior and space better than some of our other rivals.”
According to an account in Time magazine on Thursday, a Russian military satellite, Kosmos 2542, was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on November 26 and 11 days later it “gave birth” to a second Kosmos 2543 satellite.
In January, the two satellites approached a U.S. military surveillance satellite, KH-11, known to be as powerful at image resolution as the Hubble Space Telescope. The two Russian satellites drifted away when the United States complained. Six months later, Kosmos 2543 is believed to have fired a projectile into outer space.
“My conclusion here is: it is not new. What’s new is that the space force leans forward and talks about what’s going on, “Karako said. “The Russians are quite willing to carry out these provocations openly in space just as they are on the ground.”
.
