© CC BY-SA 4.0 / José Furtado
Russia already has deployed in low-earth orbit a "nesting doll" satellite armed with a weapon that can destroy US satellites vital for communications, command and control and precision targeting, Space Force Commander General John Raymond said on Tuesday.
"Russia has a nesting doll satellite [in orbit] to destroy US satellites, armed with a weapon to destroy US satellites," Raymond told the Air Force Association (AFA) Air Space Cyber Conference at National Harbor in the US state of Maryland. "It denies our ability to leverage space as a force multiplier."
Raymond claimed the satellite is designed like a Russian "nesting doll," with an outer casing that opens up to reveal an inner satellite shell and that shell also opens to reveal a weapon that can fire at and destroy US orbiting satellites from a safe distance
He went on to posit that the satellite is targeted at destroying US space assets
that are essential for accurate long-range precision targeting and fires for "smart" munitions launched from bombers and other weapons.
The Russian satellite Kosmos 2542 was launched in November 2019 and in December 2019, it released a sub-satellite, Kosmos-2543 which then carried out a series of manoeuvres that US military officials interpreted as a show of force, published reports said.
Russia has given no credence to the claims that the satellite system was offensive in nature.
Comment: That the announcement has been made means that it's likely that a group, if not a number of groups, including the US, and Russia, have a satellite in orbit with these capabilities. The suggestion that Russia would use a weapon like this to neutralize aggressive maneuvers seems to be congruent with Russian defense policy and capabilities, but it's the US that has the track record of endless crimes of aggression.
This announcement has more credence because in January 2019 the Russian ministry
announced that the US had returned to its 'Star Wars' missile defense plans, and then in April it
warned that the US might 'preemptively' strike Russia and China with its space weapons; then in November 2019 there was a rather suspect
blast at a Russian facility that killed at least seven people. Putin had this to say at the time about the top secret project working on a weapon 'unequaled in the world':
"We're talking about the most advanced and cutting-edge technical ideas and solutions, unequaled anywhere in the world; the weapon that is entitled to ensure sovereignty, security of Russia for decades to come."
The possession of such technology by Russia is "the most important, reliable guarantee of peace on the planet. And, no matter what, we'll certainly keep improving this weaponry," the president promised.
Days later Russia announced it had launched an "inspection" satellite into orbit, and by July 2020 the US was
accusing Russia of testing an anti-satellite weapon in space:
Watch Russian military put another top secret "inspection" satellite into orbit
See also:
And good on Russia . . .