A RAGING Vladimir Putin has launched a terrifying weapon system into space capable of killing other satellites, the US has warned.
The Pentagon said that the Russian counter-space weapon was put into the “same orbit” as a US government satellite – and is likely tracking the space device already.
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The Russian space object believed to be Cosmos-2576 was launched on May 16 on a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome, some 497 miles north of Moscow.
It is now in the same orbit as the American spy satellite USA 314, operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office.
An unofficial Russian source claimed the launch carried a “secret military device”.
While it was previously reported as a Russian space satellite, the US has now warned it could be a counter-space weapon capable of attacking other such tech.
Pentagon spokesman Brig Gen Pat Ryder said last night: “Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we assess is likely a counter space weapon.
“It was deployed into the same orbit as a US government satellite and assessments further indicate characteristics resembling previously deployed counter space payloads from 2019 and 2022.”
“We will continue to monitor the situation … we have a responsibility to be ready to protect and defend the space domain and ensure continuous and uninterrupted support to the joint and combined force.”
Russia’s Roskosmos state space agency said the launch was “in the interests of the defence ministry of the Russian Federation”.
A US official told CNN that the US had been expecting the launch for at least several weeks.
It was closely tracked by the North American Aerospace Defense Command as well as the US Northern Command.
The US has increasingly sought to deter Russia from developing a nuclear space strike capability – fearing it could trigger a massive energy wave to cripple commercial and government satellites used for mobile phones and the internet.
Such a Russian nuclear weapon is not yet in orbit, it is understood.
US intelligence chiefs, however, warned in February that Russia is planning to launch nukes into space that would destroy satellites in a “grave” threat to the world’s security.
Military experts have warned that Putin would take the “suicidal” decision to launch the deadly weapons if he felt his grip on power was being threatened by Ukraine and the West.
Mad despot Putin has already tested orbital weapons designed for blasting Western kits – such as the anti-satellite weapon, Cosmos 2543.
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While the weapon was not armed with a nuke for its 2020 firing – there are fears future versions of similar tech could take the next step amid the US’s chilling warning to the West.
Russia’s Cosmos 2543 ejects projectiles into space at incredible speed – like missiles which could destroy crucial Western kits orbiting the Earth.
On July 15 2020, the Cosmos 2543 was fired from its mothership the Cosmos 2542 – and launched a projectile object into the ether at an incredible 400mph.
The Russian spacecraft was also spotted skulking around the Pentagon’s spy satellite earlier that very same year.
Russia’s space weapons test
RUSSIA risked triggering a space war in 2020 when it fired its first ever anti-satellite weapon into space.
The weapon was launched from Moscow’s Cosmos 2543 satellite and while it didn’t target another spacecraft, it came close to a Russian satellite.
Putin had previously conducted low-level tests with weapons in orbit, but nothing of this size.
The US and UK blasted the Kremlin over the test, saying it threatened peace in space.
The head of the UK military’s space directorate said debris from the weapon even threatened satellites the world depends on.
In a statement, the US said the launch was “another example that the threats to US and Allied space systems are real, serious and increasing.”
Juliana Suess, a Research Analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, told The Sun it would be “wrong” to think Putin wouldn’t “sacrifice everything” by firing nukes into space.
For Dr David Jordan, Co-Director of the Freeman Air & Space Institute at King’s College London, Putin could make the disastrous knee-jerk reaction to fire nukes into space “because he can” or if “he thought he could get away with it”.
He said Putin could also push the red button if he felt the war in Ukraine was going to end with his removal of power.
“He could do it out of spite. He might think, I’ve lost, so you’re going to suffer as well,” Dr Jordan told The Sun.
Putin – along with ex-defence minister Sergei Shoigu – said that Moscow “has always been categorically against space war and is now against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space”.
However, the madman’s ambassador at the UN vetoed a US resolution against nuclear weapons in space last month.
5 things that would happen if Putin launched nukes in space
CHAOS would ensue if Putin did launch and detonate nukes in space.
Here are 5 things that would happen:
- Commercial and military satellites go down
- Communications cut, meaning people cannot call 999
- Militaries would lose contact with armed drones
- GPS would go down, meaning navigation much more difficult and planes could crash
- Financial crisis as banks cannot track transactions
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