US accuses Russia of testing anti-satellite weapon in space

The United States accused Russia on Thursday of conducting a test of an anti-satellite weapon in space, asserting that it exposed Moscow's intent to deploy weapons that threaten U.S. and allied satellites

In Moscow, the Defense Ministry said the July 15 event involved "a small space vehicle" that "inspected one of the national satellites from a close distance using special equipment." It added that the inspection "provided valuable information about the object that was inspected, which was transmitted to the ground-based control facilities." The US, however, said the Russian actions were inconsistent with the stated mission of an inspector satellite

"The Russian satellite system used to conduct this on-orbit weapons test is the same satellite system that we raised concerns about earlier this year when Russia maneuvered near a US government satellite," said Gen John W. Raymond, commander of Space Command and the head of US Space Force.