- Russia conducted an anti-satellite test from space last week, the United States Space Command said in a statement Tuesday.
- Earlier this year, a bafflingly captured Russian satellite hiding a US spy satellite launched a kind of projectile into space in a move that mimics a suspected anti-satellite weapon test in 2017.
- Because the US relies on satellites for everything from GPS navigation to communication and data transmission for military operations, the US has argued that the militarization of space by adverse powers demands that the US Pay more attention to what is becoming a contested domain.
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The U.S. Space Command said Thursday that it has evidence that Russia tested a space-based anti-satellite weapon last week, revealing that Cosmos 2543, a Russian satellite captured following an American spy satellite earlier this year, launched some type of projectile in orbit.
“The Russian satellite system used to conduct this orbit weapons test is the same satellite system that we raised concerns about earlier this year, when Russia maneuvered close to a United States government satellite,” said the general. John Raymond, commander of the United States Space Command, said in a statement.
Raymond revealed in February that a pair of Russian satellites, Cosmos 2542 and 2543, were shading a US spy satellite, specifically USA 245, also known as KH-11.
“We see this behavior as unusual and disturbing,” he told TIME. “It has the potential to create a dangerous situation in space,” he added, noting that the United States had voiced its concerns to the Russians.
Russian satellites raised some eyebrows shortly after launch last year. What at first appeared to be a satellite suddenly split into two, and one emerged from the other. Now additional objects are being released into orbit.
“The way I imagine it, in my mind, is like Russian nesting dolls,” Raymond said when he described the situation in February.
In Thursday’s statement, the United States Space Command noted that the Russian anti-satellite test seemed similar to a troublesome test in 2017, which the Pentagon discussed during its presentation of the new Defense Space Strategy in June.
The Russians launched a satellite as they had before, but then events began to unfold as they have lately.
“From that satellite, the Russian satellite, a smaller satellite was born from that main satellite. From that smaller satellite, a projectile was launched from that Russian satellite,” Stephen Kitay, deputy undersecretary for defense of space policy, told reporters. at the pentagon
Russia claimed that the third object was an inspection satellite, but “the behavior of that satellite was not at all like an inspection satellite and seemed much more concerning,” Kitay said, citing observations by the State Department.
The new Space Defense Strategy identifies Russia and China as “the most immediate and serious threats to US space operations.”
In mid-April, Russia conducted a direct-rise anti-satellite missile test, which the United States Space Command said was another example that “the threats to American and allied space systems are real, serious and growing.”
Because the US relies on satellites for everything from GPS navigation to overseas military operations, the militarization of space by American adversaries has been used as justification for further US military activity. In Space and the Creation of the US Space Force, the first new branch of military service created since the establishment of the Air Force in 1947.
Kitay told reporters in June that because China and Russia are “actively developing capabilities to deny American, allied and associated space systems, we have no choice but to make sure we are prepared with the necessary means to protect and defend ourselves against attacks on our systems. “
“I wish I could say that space is a sea of tranquility, but the fact is that space is in dispute,” Kitay said. “Outer space has become a key arena of potential conflict in an era of great power competition.”
