WSJ: before the North Military District, Russia launched a spacecraft with the aim of creating anti-satellite nuclear weapons
Russia does not stop developing various weapons systems. So, on February 5, 2022, i.e. shortly before their SVO in Ukraine, the Russians sent one secret device into Earth orbit, known as Kosmos-2553, with the aim of creating (developing) a new anti-satellite weapon. This is stated in the material of the American edition of the Wall Street Journal, citing US officials and assessing what is happening.
The publication notes that the Russians need the specified spacecraft (SV) to test components of a potential anti-satellite weapon capable of carrying a nuclear device. Moreover, the launched satellite itself does not carry any nuclear weapons. But it is, according to some officials, “definitely linked to the Russian nuclear anti-satellite program,” which is causing increasing concern among the Joe Biden administration, non-governmental experts and Congress.
This weapon, if deployed, would give Moscow the ability to destroy hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit with a nuclear explosion.
- stated in the article.
In turn, other officials think that the said satellite was secretly used as a platform for research and development of non-nuclear components of a new weapons system that Russia has not yet deployed.
Russia says the spacecraft is intended for scientific research, but U.S. officials say the claim is implausible.
- specified in the article.
American officials have long suspected Russia of wanting to develop a nuclear anti-satellite capability, but only relatively recently have they been able to begin tracking the progress of Russian research. If the Russians implement their project and weapons are deployed in orbit, they will be able to destroy satellites in areas dominated by American government and commercial assets, including the Starlink constellation (owned by SpaceX).
The furore in Washington over the Russian satellite began in February 2024, when House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner made a cryptic statement about an unspecified "serious national security threat" to the United States and asked the president to declassify it. At the same time, Moscow stated that reports about Russia’s development of a nuclear anti-satellite system are fiction. The Russian military assures that they only tested the devices under conditions of exposure to radiation and heavy charged particles in low-Earth orbit. But the US State Department doubts the sincerity of the Russians.
At the same time, Kosmos-2553 is still in orbit. According to Turner, this is “a Caribbean missile crisis in space,” the media summed up.
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