Russia may have launched a good “inspector satellite” with all the capacity to perform hunter-killer missions to monitor plus potentially shoot straight down US spy satellites.
On August 1, Russia released the Kosmos-2558 satellite from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Although the purpose of the particular satellite is not known, a 2022 article by The Universe magazine notes that some reports say it is designed to inspect and track some other satellites.
The same report mentions that will on August four, Kosmos-2558 approached inside 75 kilometers from the USA-326 satellite, which based on NASA carries a classified payload.
The Warzone defense publication cites a press release from your US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) which says USA-326 premiered to perform “overhead reconnaissance missions, ” which usually revolves around space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) abilities.
The article also mentions that USA-326 might be a next-generation imagery intelligence (IMINT) satellite, which is a follow-up to the earlier KH-11 IMINT spy satellites which entered program in the 1970s.
The Warzone furthermore notes that while Kosmos-2558 may be an inspector satellite on the surface, it could potentially be a new anti-satellite weapon designed to search and kill enemy satellites.
While it makes sense to launch inspector satellites to monitor, repair plus upgrade existing satellites without manned quests, these satellites could be repurposed into space-based anti-satellite weapons, the particular Warzone reports.
The same source records that any satellite television that can physically connect to other satellites has the inherent capability to be used as a weapon.
Such satellites can be equipped with robotic arms in order to capture or break enemy satellites, directed energy weapons such as lasers or high-powered microwaves, or attach guns and missiles. They can also be sent to crash in to enemy satellites.
Russia previously offers shadowed US secret agent satellites with satellites that could be weaponized. A 2022 article in Room. com reports that within 2020 two Ruskies satellites maneuvered inside 160 kilometers from the USA-245 spy satellite television, a move the US criticized as “unusual and disturbing. ”
In a 2018 write-up , The Warzone mentioned that Russia conducted a similar launch in 2017 plus three other launches between 2013 plus 2015. The satellites Kosmos-2491, Kosmos-2499 plus Kosmos-2504, launched between 2013 and 2015, conducted several medical tests including maneuvering close to space debris.
The article notes this could demonstrate these satellites’ capability to “hide” within space debris fields while gathering intelligence or even send out jamming and spoofing signals to befuddle satellite navigation plus missile guidance systems.
More tellingly, US spy satellites are very vulnerable to this kind of attacks. A 2016 content on the SOFREP defense internet site notes that most US satellites have no incredibly elusive or defensive abilities to prevent hunter-killer satellites from engaging and also destroying them.
Russia has deployed a sizeable arsenal of anti-satellite weapons since the Chilly War. These include terrestrial weapons such as the Peresvet ground-based anti-satellite laser , and space-based weapons observed by Space Security Index such as the Istrebitel Sputnikov interceptor, Naryad missile-armed satellite and Skif-DM laser-armed satellite.
Russia’s development of counter-space capabilities is powered by its military doctrine, notes defense analyst Juliana Suess in a 2021 Royal United Service Institute (RUSI) article . The lady writes that Russia’s doctrine centers on achieving information dominance in future combat, in which space possessions – with their crucial roles in sending and storing data – are certain to enjoy vital roles.
She notes the creation of the Ruskies Aerospace Forces in 2015 as a reaction to the shift of recent combat’s center associated with gravity into the room domain. As space increasingly becomes a good enabler of current combat operations, the domain could also host conflict.
She furthermore mentions that Russia is adapting the forces to attack space systems which space capabilities would certainly support non-contact combat. This doctrine suggests using standoff weapons such as hypersonic missiles that depend on satellite guidance.
Suess also notes the lack of governing norms concerning the militarization of space. She points out the fact that 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the current international law regulating space utilization, lacks detail and cover conventional weapons.
Absence of policy clearness can allow space to show into another grey zone domain. In a 2020 Air Force Magazine article , Rachel Cohen follows Suess’ line of thought, observing the lack of internationally-accepted norms on space habits, gaps in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty as well as the development of counter-space features challenge the idea of space as a shared resource for all humanity.