Russia has test-fired an anti-satellite missile in its pursuit to turn space into a “warfighting domain,” the U.S. Space Command announced Wednesday.
“Russia has made space a warfighting domain by testing space-based and ground-based weapons intended to target and destroy satellites,” U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson — the leader of the Space Command — said in a statement. “This fact is inconsistent with Moscow’s public claims that Russia seeks to prevent conflict in space.”
PENCE ANNOUNCES FIRST TWO SPACE FORCE BASES IN THE US
Dickinson added that Moscow is looking to “exploit U.S. reliance on space-based systems.”
“We stand ready and committed to deter aggression and defend our Nation and our allies from hostile acts in space,” he continued.
The U.S. Space Command says Russia has completed several tests of a ground-based weapon system “capable of destroying satellites in low Earth orbit.”