Featured Britain and US accuse Russia of launching 'weapon' in space

[Ivan]

Britain and US accuse Russia of launching 'weapon' in space

Launch of projectile from satellite into orbit ‘threatens the peaceful use of space’

A Soyuz-2 1b rocket booster carrying the Russian military satellite Kosmos 2546 is launched in Arkhangelsk region in May. Photograph: Russian Defence Ministry/Tass
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The US and UK have 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, the head of the new US Space Force, said the alleged test of a projectile, conducted on 15 July, was “further evidence of Russia’s continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems, and consistent with the Kremlin’s published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold US and allied space assets at risk.”

He said that the weapon was launched from one of two satellites which manoeuvred close to a US government satellite earlier this year. Russia has insisted its space activities are purely peaceful, but Raymond said the activities of the spacecraft involved in the launch were inconsistent with its official designation as an inspection satellite.

A US Space Command statement said Russia carried similar “on-orbit activity” in 2017, an apparent reference to a previously unreported Russian test of a satellite-launched weapon.

The head of the UK’s space directorate, Air Vice-Marshal Harvey Smyth, said: “We are concerned by the manner in which Russia tested one of its satellites by launching a projectile with the characteristics of a weapon."

“Actions of this kind threaten the peaceful use of space and risk causing debris that could pose a threat to satellites and the space systems on which the world depends. We call on Russia to avoid any further such testing."

“We also urge Russia to continue to work constructively with the UK and other partners to encourage responsible behaviour in space.”

There are no recorded cases of tests of such space-launched anti-satellite weapons by other countries. Both the US and China have destroyed their own malfunctioning satellites using missiles fired from sea and land respectively. But most military activities in space are highly secret.

“I don’t want to speculate on what the US does or doesn’t do,” Tom Karako, director of the missile defence project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said. “I think it’s fair to say that we honour the expectations of good conduct 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 Plesetsk Cosmodrome last 26 November and 11 days later it “birthed” a second satellite Kosmos 2543.

In January, the two satellites came close to a US military surveillance satellite, KH-11, reputed to be as powerful in image resolution as the Hubble space telescope. The two Russian satellites pulled away when the US complained. Six months later, it is Kosmos 2543 that is believed to have fired a projectile into outer space.

“My takeaway here is: it’s not new. What’s new is the space force is leaning forward and talking about what’s going on,” Karako said. “The Russians are quite willing to conduct these provocations openly in space just as they are on the ground.”

 

[Ivan]

Russia rejects US, UK space weapon claim as ‘propaganda’
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AFP |Updated 25 Jul, 2020

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Russian foreign ministry says US, UK officials should "show professionalism". — Reuters/File

MOSCOW: Russia on Friday dismissed accusations from the United States and Britain that it had tested an anti-satellite weapon in space as “propaganda”.​

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Moscow responded after the United States Space Command on Thursday accused Russia of test-firing an anti-satellite weapon in space and warned the threat against US systems was “real, serious and increasing”.​

The head of Britain’s Space Directorate, Air Vice-Marshal Harvey Smyth, also reacted, tweeting that “actions of this kind threaten the peaceful use of space.” The Russian foreign ministry insisted on Moscow’s “commitment to obligations on the non-discriminatory use and study of space with peaceful aims."

“We call on our US and British colleagues to show professionalism and instead of some propagandistic information attacks, sit down for talks,” the ministry said in a statement.

The US said that Russia conducted a “non-destructive test of a space-based anti-satellite weapon”.​

“Clearly this is unacceptable,” tweeted US nuclear disarmament negotiator Marshall Billingslea, adding that it would be a “major issue” discussed next week in Vienna, where he is in talks on a successor to the New START treaty.

The treaty caps the nuclear warheads of the US and Russia — the two Cold War-era superpowers.

The Russian foreign ministry said tests carried out by the country’s defence ministry on July 15 “did not create a threat for other space equipment and most importantly, did not breach any norms or principles of international law.” It in turn accused the US and Britain of moves to develop anti-satellite weaponry.

The US and Britain “naturally keep silent about their own efforts,” it said, claiming the countries had “programmes on the possible use of ‘inspector satellites’ and ‘repair satellites’ as counter-satellite weapons.” Commenting earlier Friday on the accusations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia supports “full demilitarisation of space and not basing any type of weapons in space.” The US Space Command said the test consisted of Russia’s satellite called Cosmos 2543 injecting an object into orbit.

Russian state media reported in December that a satellite called Cosmos-2542, which was launched in November 2019 by the Russian military, ejected another smaller satellite once in space.

The Russian defence ministry said the inspector-satellite was meant to “monitor the condition of Russian satellites,” but state daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta said it could also “get information from somebody else’s satellites.” The system is the same one that Space Command raised concerns about earlier this year, when it manoeuvred near a US government satellite, said General Jay Raymond, head of US Space Command.

“This is further evidence of Russia’s continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems, and consistent with the Kremlin’s published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold US and allied space assets at risk,” Raymond said in a statement.

It is the latest example of Russian satellites behaving in a manner “inconsistent with their stated mission,” the Space Command statement added.

“This event highlights Russia’s hypocritical advocacy of outer space arms control,” said Christopher Ford, a US assistant secretary of state for arms control.

The statement also came as China launched a rover to Mars on Thursday, a journey coinciding with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space.​

 

[Armchair]

Says the country that has a "United States Space Command" - a full fledged military arm for space. American hypocrisy is its most abundant resource.

 

[rambro]

Says the country that has a "United States Space Command" - a full fledged military arm for space. American hypocrisy is its most abundant resource.

Says the country that openly wants to form space force.

 

[Dalit]

Britain and US LOL Two twin devils.

 

[BHAN85]

Let international inspectors inspect the Boeing X-37B payload before the next launch or shut up USA.