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US Dismisses Accusations of Killing Russian Satellite
U.S. military officials have dismissed claims of unnamed Russian experts who said America used an anti-satellite weapon last month to kill a small Russian research satellite. “There’s no way this is a credible story,” MSNBC quoted Spokesman for the U.S. Strategic Command James Graybeal as saying.
The Tatiana probe stopped sending signals on March without any breakup recorded. An unnamed source in the Russian space industry said the satellite “could have been lost as a result of influence of some Earth-based technical means”, the Interfax news agency reported. The source said Russian space experts believe that the satellite fell victim to U.S. experiments in ray influence on spacecraft.”
The experts’ speculation is based on the timing of the failure. They note that the satellite stopped functioning on March 7, and the United States was conducting a military experiment at about the same time.
Other Russian experts said the satellite may have been crippled by a U.S. missile as the Pentagon was holding a missile test on the same day.
The Pentagon dismissed the accusation, saying that the only recorded test launch was held on March 5, and was not aimed at disabling any satellites. U.S. Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said the missile used during a test followed a ballistic trajectory and splashed down into the Pacific Ocean without striking any objects along the way.
www.kommersant.com
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