The satellite is designed to identify missile launches using infrared telescopes.

A Proton-K carrier rocket with a DM-2 upper stage was used to perform the launch, which took place at 08:31 UTC on 14 February 1991.

[2] The launch successfully placed the satellite into geostationary orbit.

[2] The United States Space Command assigned it the Satellite Catalog Number 21111.

[2][3] Kosmos 2133 was the first satellite in the US-KMO series and was operational for over 4 years.