Russia launched spacecraft carrying parts of anti-satellite nuclear weapon before war – WSJ

A few weeks before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia launched the Kosmos 2553 satellite to test components of a potential anti-satellite nuclear weapons system.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Details: Reportedly, in February 2022, a few weeks before Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia launched the Kosmos 2553 research spacecraft into space.

This satellite, American officials say, was designed to test components for a potential anti-satellite weapon that would carry a nuclear device.

Sources say Kosmos 2553 does not carry nuclear weapons, but American officials are certain it contains non-nuclear components of a new Russian armament system.

This armament, if deployed, will give Moscow an opportunity to destroy hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbit with a nuclear blast "in a part of space dominated by American government and SpaceX assets".

One of the sources called the satellite a "prototype" of the weapon but others say that the Russian space programme has not advanced that far. Kosmos 2553 is still moving around the Earth on an "unusual orbit".

Over the last few months, US President Joe Biden’s administration and Congress have been concerned about the alleged anti-satellite nuclear programme.

Russia’s Defence Ministry and Roscosmos reported about the launch of this satellite but little information concerning the purpose of the satellite was disclosed – only that it was equipped with the systems for operation "under conditions of exposure to radiation and heavy charged particles".

Sources of WSJ consider the claims of the Russian side about the goal of the spacecraft launch to be improbable and stress that it was launched within the Russian nuclear anti-satellite programme.

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