On 17 April 2026 02:17 MSK (16 April 2026, 23:17 UTC) the Air and Space Forces conducted a successful launch of a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the launch pad No. 4 of the launch complex No. 43 of the Plesetsk space launch site. The rocket and its Volga boost stage delivered into orbit several satellites for the ministry of defense.

There has been no official announcement regarding designations of the satellites or their missions. The US Space Forces registered ten objects associated with this launch as follows (see the 2026-05-03 update below):

OBJECT C decayed shortly after launch, on 19 April 2026. OBJECT E appears to be decaying and is likely to reenter relatively soon. OBJECT D may be the Volga upper stage. It performed an orbit-lowering maneuver on 18 April 2026, probably designed to accelerate the decay.

The active satellites are deployed in two groups: OBJECT A and OBJECT B are placed in the plane with inclination of 98.25 degrees. The satellites are deployed on near-circular orbits with altitude of about 495-550 km.

The other five satellites, from OBJECT F to OBJECT K, are deployed in near-circular orbits with the inclination of 96.95 degrees and altitude of about 547 km.

While the mission of neither group of satellites is known, one possibility, suggested by Anatoly Zak, is that these are radar-imaging satellites developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya.

This launch continued the practice of not disclosing satellite Cosmos numbers or even the number of deployed satellites. In some cases, designations are released by the US Space Forces, as was the case with Cosmos-2600, launched in February 2026. But the eight satellites launched in the same mission are still listed as OBJECT B to OBJECT J.

P.S. The launch was observed in several cities in the North, for example, in St. Petersburg. The image below is from a Fontanka.ru story.

UPDATE 2026-05-03: US Space Command updated designations of the registered objects as follows:

Only six objects are identified as payloads. Their Cosmos designations are probably preliminary. Russia has not yet officially released satellite names.