Preparing for World War III: Russia placed killer satellites in orbit – The Telegraph

Unlike a nuclear explosion in orbit, this weapon can destroy satellites one at a time, rather than all at once.

Russia plans to place a nuclear weapon in orbit that will destroy almost all satellites in one explosion. But already now the aggressor country has “conventional” anti-satellite weapons in orbit – killer devices capable of “killing” other satellites one at a time. The Telegraph writes about this .

In 2019 and 2022, Russia launched a group of small, maneuverable “inspection” satellites into low orbit. The Russians claim that the function of these devices is to rendezvous with other Russian satellites and check them to diagnose problems.

But, as The Telegraph writes, with the help of sensors and manipulators, these same “inspection” satellites can interfere with the work of other people’s satellites or even destroy them.

Russian inspection satellites tend to be short-lived. After a couple of years, they run out of fuel, lose altitude and burn up in the atmosphere. To preserve its orbital arsenal for a possible future space war, the Kremlin must launch a new batch of inspection satellites every few years.

On May 16, the Russians launched a mysterious satellite called Kosmos 2576 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia. Four days later, on May 20, US Deputy UN Representative Robert Wood said that Cosmos 2576 was likely a weapon capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit.

“Russia deployed this new anti-space weapon in the same orbit as a US government satellite,” Wood said. It is reported that this American satellite, numbered USA 314, has reconnaissance capabilities.

If Cosmos 2576 had actually attacked USA 314, it would have been an act of war. But in a situation where the war has already begun, the main priority of the Russian space force would be to blind or disable as many American intelligence and communications satellites as possible.

The Telegraph notes that the Americans also have “inspection satellites” and a “secret space combat aircraft” capable of interfering with other countries’ spacecraft – and so do the Chinese.

“The big difference is that the United States and China are not currently escalating a major war on the surface of the Earth that would demonstrate their recklessness,” the publication notes.

(C)UNIAN 2024