Outer space

Space Force on alert: Behind Russia's mysterious testing of deadly anti-satellite weapons in orbit

Last week, the head of the U.S.'s newest military branch, the Space Force, cautioned publicly for the first time that Moscow had undertaken at least two concerning anti-satellite weapon tests in recent months, in a potential bid to develop on-orbit efficiency that could dangerously hinder the U.S.'s heavy dependency on space-based systems.

"On July 15, Russia injected a new object into orbit from Cosmos 2543," the U.S. Space Force said in a statement. "Russia released this object in proximity to another Russian satellite, (which was) inconsistent with the system's stated mission as an inspector satellite."

While Russia's Defense Ministry dismissed the allegation, it is not the first time the Pentagon has said such an incident occurred.

Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond, commander of U.S. Space Command and U.S. Space Force chief of space operations, further highlighted that the Russian satellite system used to conduct this on-orbit weapons test is the same onr they "raised concerns about earlier this year when Russia maneuvered near a U.S. government satellite."