Starlink in the crosshairs? Intel raises alarm over Russian space weapon plans
Two NATO-nation intelligence services suspect Russia is developing a new anti-satellite weapon to target Elon Musk‘s Starlink constellation with destructive orbiting clouds of shrapnel, with the aim of reining in Western space superiority that has helped Ukraine on the battlefield. Intelligence findings seen by The Associated Press say the so-called “zone-effect” weapon would seek to flood Starlink orbits with hundreds of thousands of high-density pellets, potentially disabling multiple satellites at once but also risking catastrophic collateral damage to other orbiting systems.
Analysts who haven’t seen the findings say they doubt such a weapon could work without causing uncontrollable chaos in space for companies and countries, including Russia and its ally China, that rely on thousands of orbiting satellites for communications, defence, and other vital needs. Such repercussions, including risks to its own space systems, could steer Moscow away from deploying or using such a weapon, analysts said.
“I don’t buy it. Like, I really don’t,” said Victoria Samson, a space-security specialist at the Secure World Foundation who leads the Colorado-based non-governmental organization’s annual study of anti-satellite systems. “I would be very surprised, frankly, if they were to do something like that.”
But the commander of the Canadian military’s Space Division, Brig. Gen. Christopher Horner said such Russian work cannot be ruled out in light of previous US allegations that Russia also has been pursuing an indiscriminate nuclear, space-based weapon. “I can’t say I’ve been briefed on that type of system. But it’s not implausible,” he said. “If the reporting on the nuclear weapons system is accurate and that they’re willing to develop that and willing to go to that end, well, it wouldn’t strike me as shocking that something just short of that, but equally damaging, is within their wheelhouse of development.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t respond to messages from the AP seeking comment. Russia has previously called for United Nations efforts to stop the orbital deployment of weapons, and President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear space weapons.
A weapon would have multiple targets
The intelligence findings were shown to the AP on condition that the services involved were not identified and the news organisation was not able to independently verify the findings’ conclusions.
The US Space Force didn’t respond to emailed questions. The French military’s Space Command said in a statement to the AP that it could not comment on the findings but said, “We can inform you that Russia has, in recent years, been multiplying irresponsible, dangerous, and even hostile actions in space.”
Russia views Starlink in particular as a grave threat, the findings indicate. The thousands of low-orbiting satellites have been pivotal for Ukraine’s survival against Russia’s full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year. Starlink’s high-speed internet service is used by Ukrainian forces for battlefield communications, weapons targeting, and other roles, and by civilians and government officials where Russian strikes have affected communications.
Russian officials repeatedly have warned that commercial satellites serving Ukraine’s military could be legitimate targets. This month, Russia said it has fielded a new ground-based missile system, the S-500, which is capable of hitting low-orbit targets. Unlike a missile that Russia tested in 2021 to destroy a defunct Cold War-era satellite, the new weapon in development would target multiple Starlinks at once, with pellets possibly released by yet-to-be-launched formations of small satellites, the intelligence findings say.
[With inputs from Associated Press]
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