UK and US say Russia fired a satellite weapon in space

                  Source: BBC News UK July 23, 2020

The UK and US has accused Russian of testing
a weapon - like projectile in space that could
be use to target sattelite in orbit.

The US State Department described the action by Russian as "sattelite weaponry" alarming and concerning. The US has previously raised
concern about new Russian sattelite activity in early this year .

But it's the first time the UK government has made accusations about Russian test-firing in space. The test was executed just days after an inquiry said "the UK government badly underestimated the threat posed by Russian "

In a statement on Thursday, US Assistant Secretary of State for international security and Non-Proliferation, Christopher Ford, accused Moscow of hypocrisy after it said he wanted arms control to be extended to space.
 "Moscow aims is to restrict the capabilities of
the United States while clearly having no motive of halting its own counter-space programme" he said.

Russia's defense ministry earlier said it was using new technology to perform checks on Russia space equipment.

The head of the UK space directorate, Air Vice Marshall Harvey Smyth, post on his twitter account saying he was also concerned about the Russian latest sattelite test. which he nailed had the "characteristics of a weapon".
  'Action like this threaten the peaceful use of
space and risk causing debris that could pose a threat to sattelites and the space systems on which the world depends', he said. He urged Russian to be "responsible" and "avoid any further such testing" .

Russian, the UK, the US and China are among more than 100 nations to have committed to space treaty that stipulates that outer space is to be explore by all and purely for peaceful purposes. The treaty adds that weapons should not be placed in the orbit or in space.

The US said that the Russian sattelite system was the same one it raised concerns about in 2018 and earlier this year when the US accused it of manipulating close to an American sattelite.

In this latest incident, Gen. Jay Raymond, who
head US space command, said their were
 proof Russian "conducted a test of space-base anti-sattelite weapon".

Gen. Raymond added: "this is further evidence of Russian's continueing efforts to develop and test space-base systems and is consistent with the Kremlin's military doctrine to employ weapons that hold US and allied space assets at risk.