A Russian military satellite that has been shadowing a classified US reconnaissance spacecraft for nearly three years released a mysterious object in orbit on June 26. Defense officials say this is the latest development in Russia’s anti-satellite weapons program.
The object, designated 2025-089C, separated from the Russian satellite Cosmos-2558 while both were operating in the same orbital plane as USA 326, an American spy satellite operated by the National Reconnaissance Office, according to satellite tracking data reported by the Seesat-L mailing list.
“This is the third time we see this kind of ‘Matrushka Doll’ behaviour from Russian military satellites in five years time,” said Marco Langbroek, a Dutch astronomer who captured video footage of the newly released object from Leiden, Netherlands, according to his SatTrackCam blog.
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This follows a pattern of Russian “inspector satellites” that US officials say pose potential threats to American space assets. Previous Russian satellites in this series released subsatellites that demonstrated advanced maneuvering capabilities and fired high-speed projectiles that the Pentagon classified as anti-satellite weapon tests, according to Bart Hendrickx, a Russian space program expert who writes for The Space Review.
In July 2020, Cosmos 2543 “conducted a non-destructive test of a space-based anti-satellite weapon,” according to US Space Command, marking what officials called clear evidence of Russia’s counterspace weapons development.
“Russia continues to research, develop, test, and deploy a suite of counterspace systems that threaten the safety and stability of the domain,” a US Space Command spokesperson told Breaking Defense in response to recent Russian satellite activities.
Cosmos-2558, launched in August 2022, is believed to be part of Russia’s “Nivelir” program of military inspection satellites, according to Hendrickx’s analysis of the Russian space program. The spacecraft has maintained a co-orbital path with USA 326 for over two years, leading experts to question whether these are truly inspection missions or deployment of dormant weapons systems.
“To me, staying in the same orbital plane for 2+ years does not indicate they are ‘inspector satellites’ — what more is there to ‘inspect’ after 2+ years?” Langbroek told Breaking Defense.
This marks the fourth time in five years that Russia has placed military satellites in orbital paths shadowing US reconnaissance spacecraft, according to Langbroek’s analysis of the Cosmos series missions. The pattern has prompted increased monitoring by the US Space Command and commercial space tracking companies.
Russia has, not surprisingly, denied allegations that its satellites are weapons, maintaining they are for inspection purposes, according to previous Russian government statements.
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