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

US believes Russia’s recently launched satellite can inspect and attack other satellites in low Earth orbit.

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

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

“We have observed nominal activity and assess it is likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” a spokesperson for US Space Command, part of the US Department of Defense, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite,” it said.

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