THE NEW SPACE RACE: Russian spy satellite reportedly continues suspicious maneuvers.

Slingshot reports that the satellite, which has been in orbit for just over a year, has been positioning itself near several communications satellites in what appears to be an ongoing signals intelligence-gathering mission.

Luch 2’s latest move, flagged by Slingshot’s automated tracking system, was a “large maneuver” on June 23 that would indicate that the satellite is moving towards an Intelsat communications satellite.

Audrey Schaffer, Slingshot’s vice president of strategy and policy, said the company “has had eyes on Luch 2 since it was launched in March 2023, and our machine learning algorithms have predicted its next move.”

The company is forecasting that Luch 2’s next object of interest is the Intelsat 1002 communications satellite.

Practice runs for attacking the West’s satellite comms?

We have plenty of rapid-launch capability, thanks to SpaceX. We need to make having plenty of backup birds a priority.