According to the commander of Space forces (Space Force), the latest military service of the United States, Russian satellites demonstrate the «unusual and disturbing behavior.» Strange Russian spacecraft follow the American spy satellite.
Pair of Russian satellites (Space Space, 2542 and 2543) pursuing multi-billion dollar us satellite (KH-11 / США245), located hundreds of miles from the Earth’s surface. This was stated by the chief military commander of the United States, highlighting a growing threat to American dominance in space exploration and potentially costly competition in the industry between Washington and Moscow.
Russian satellites have been exhibiting the «unusual and disturbing behavior» of following a US satellite in orbit, according to the commander of the Space Force https://t.co/WYynzUEP2W
— CNN (@CNN) February 11, 2020
«In November last year, the Russian government launched a satellite, which subsequently released a second satellite, «- said on Monday the commander of the Space Force General John Raymond.
U.S. military analysts first noticed something strange after 26 November Russia withdrew its spacecraft into orbit from the Plesetsk cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz rocket. The Russian satellite was in orbit for less than two weeks, when, ironically, it was divided into two parts. The second, smaller in size, the satellite somehow «born» from the first.
«The way I imagine it, like Russian nesting dolls, ‘says Raymond. — The second satellite was released from the first satellite».
«These satellites actively maneuvered near the government of the U.S. satellites. They behave like other satellites that Russia launched in 2017 and which the Russian government described as «satellites inspectors»«.
This statement reported by TIME.
1/ Exclusive: A pair of Russian satellites are tailing a multibillion-dollar U.S. spy satellite hundreds of miles above the Earth’s surface, a top U.S. military commander tells TIME https://t.co/nbrTxlZjfa
— TIME (@TIME) February 10, 2020
General John «Jay» Raymond says that the Russian space ship began to maneuver towards the American satellite shortly after launch in November, from time to time flying within 100 miles from him.
Raymond said that the US government through diplomatic channels, Moscow has expressed its concern about this issue.
Raymond’s comments are the first significant statement by the American space forces. The U.S. is concerned that opponents are doing in space. This is the main reason that USA for the first time since 1947, opened a new military industry. Trump administration has requested $ 15 billion for the Space Force and other space projects Monday, within its budget of the Pentagon.
That Russian satellite, which is referred to in the statement Raymond, has released a second satellite, December 6, reported the state news Agency TASS.
«The purpose of the experiment is to continue the evaluation of the technical state of the domestic satellites», — reads the statement of the Russian Ministry of defense.
On Monday, Raymond said that the recent actions of Russia put it among the countries which «have transformed the space into the area of hostilities».
«Such actions in any other field will be interpreted as a potentially dangerous,’ said Raymond. — This is an unusual and disturbing behavior, which can create a dangerous situation in space. The United States believes that such maneuvers of the satellites do not reflect the behavior of a responsible space powers».
Raymond also noted that Russian satellites «showed the characteristics of weapons, when one of them released a high-speed projectile into space» after the deployment in 2017. The United States raised this issue at the Conference of United Nations on disarmament.
Assistant Secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, told the conference participants that «the behavior on the orbit of the Russian satellite in 2017 had nothing to do with anything that could be seen earlier in the audit plan on-orbit or space-based situational intelligence of the Russian satellites».
«What Russia is telling us diplomatically and publicly, may be the opposite of what she was going to do with this satellite,»she said.
This incident is the first time the U.S. military publicly identified as a direct threat to the opponent specific American satellite. Given the ground of the confrontation between Russia, the US and its allies (including soldiers, fighter jets, and warships), the observers Express concern that the space could become a new arena for unintended escalation of hostilities between long-time enemies.
Cosmic forces for which the White house is requesting $ 15 billion in the budget proposal represent a strategic shift from passively working and observing satellites to their active protection.
The doctrine of cosmic war is still under development, but Raymond talks about the need to mobilize Space command, against the perceived risk, because other countries, especially Russia and China, are becoming more sophisticated in creating arsenals of lasers and anti-satellite weapons to make US deaf, dumb and blind in space.
