US assesses Russia likely launched a counter space weapon last week

The US has assessed that Russia likely launched a counter space weapon last week that is close to, and capable of attacking, a US government satellite orbiting nearby, US Ambassador Robert Wood said at the UN on Monday.

The US has assessed that Russia likely launched a counter space weapon last week that is close to, and capable of attacking, a US government satellite orbiting nearby, US Ambassador Robert Wood said at the UN on Monday. It is not the first time Russia has launched a counter space weapon, which is designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites. But the last time it did so was in 2022, said Wood, who serves as the US alternative representative for Special Political Affairs at the UN. The launch comes at a time the US and its allies are increasingly concerned about Russia’s efforts to develop a nuclear space weapon capable of destroying commercial and government satellites. “On May 16, Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that the United States assesses is likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” Wood said in remarks before a vote on a UN Security Council resolution drafted by Russia on outer space security. “Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite.” Wood added that the May 16 launch “follows prior Russian satellite launches likely of counterspace systems to low Earth orbit in 2019 and 2022.” The ambassador called the launch “troubling,” and said it undermines Russia’s claims that it is seeking outer space security. A US official separately told CNN that the US had been expecting the launch for at least several weeks, and North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command tracked it as it happened, according to a defense official.