A Secret Weapon? US Concerned by “Abnormal” Russian Satellite

The Russian government has insisted the satellite is a “space apparatus inspector,” but an American official said the object’s movements in orbit were “inconsistent with anything seen before” in that capacity

The United States has voiced concern about Russia’s launch of a mysterious satellite that is exhibiting “very abnormal behavior,” raising suspicions about Moscow’s pursuit of new space weapons.

Speaking at the UN Conference on Disarmament, Yleem Poblete, US assistant secretary for arms control, verification, and compliance, said that “In October of last year, the Russian Ministry of Defense deployed a space object they claimed was a ‘space apparatus inspector.’ But its behavior on-orbit was inconsistent with anything seen before from on-orbit inspection or space situational awareness capabilities, including other Russian inspection satellite activities. We are concerned with what appears to be very abnormal behavior by a declared ‘space apparatus inspector.’

“We don’t know for certain what it is and there is no way to verify it. But Russian intentions with respect to this satellite are unclear and are obviously a very troubling development – particularly, when considered in concert with statements by Russia’s Space Force Commander who highlighted that ‘assimilate[ing] new prototypes of weapons [into] Space Forces’ military units’ is a ‘main task facing the Aerospace Forces Space Troops.’

“Now I can tell you that our Russian colleagues will deny that its systems are meant to be hostile. The Russian Ministry of Defense has put out a press release stating these are simply inspector satellites.”

Poblete added that “it is difficult to determine an object’s true purpose simply by observing it on orbit – unlike inspection for a traditional arms control agreement. Based on the drafting of the treaty language by Russia, there is nothing in the proposed PPWT that would prohibit this sort of activity or the developing, testing, or stockpiling of anti-satellite weapons capabilities, so long as it doesn’t damage another object in space.”

 

[Sources: state.gov, Independent]