(Reuters) – Russia said on Wednesday it has enhanced its defence capability to track objects in space, allowing it to detect foreign spacecraft and determine their purpose much more quickly.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was briefed by Colonel General Alexander Golovko, commander of Russian space forces, during a visit to a new facility in Russia’s western military district, his ministry said.
Russia likes to boast that it is developing military technology unmatched by other countries despite the distraction of its costly war in Ukraine, where it has struggled to make headway against a highly motivated defending army equipped with advanced NATO weapons.
Shoigu was informed that the new site has “unique capabilities for automatic search, detection and control of small space objects in near-Earth space”, the ministry said.
It can track objects as small as 10 cm (4 inches), it added. By 2027, it would be able to detect spacecraft post-launch four times faster than before, and to determine their purpose twice as fast.
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Gareth Jones)
