Russia last week launched a satellite that US intelligence officials believe to be a weapon capable of inspecting and attacking other satellites, the US Space Command said Tuesday as the Russian spacecraft trails a US spy satellite in orbit.
Russia's Soyuz rocket blasted off from its Plesetsk launch site some 500 miles (805 km) north of Moscow on May 16, 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 behavior.
"We have observed nominal activity and assess it is likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit," a USSPACECOM spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.
"Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite."
COSMOS 2576 resembled 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.