Could China and Russia Really Destroy Starlink?
Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:
One week ago, three widely respected European news outlets published the results of an investigation into what they described as a "joint plan" by China and Russia to "defeat Elon Musk's Starlink."
The story was the product of a long-running inquiry by The Insider, Der Spiegel, and Le Monde. Reporters at those publications said they reviewed a cache of documents detailing growing military cooperation between China and Russia. The documents covered discussions between the nuclear powers on integrated air and missile defense systems, autonomous "swarm" loitering munitions, next-generation armored vehicles, and military aviation, the report said.
According to the papers, the investigation found evidence of a partnership between China and Russia in the field of space weapons far deeper than either country has acknowledged. One particular focus for China and Russia has been developing strategies to counter SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband network.
Among the documents the reporters reviewed were a series of slide shows presented at a previously undisclosed China-Russia Military-Technical Cooperation Forum held in 2023. The bilateral meetings have continued since then, with a sixth gathering on tap for the end of this year in St. Petersburg, the reporters said.
"The documents show a partnership that has moved well beyond shared rhetoric into a structured, multi-disciplinary program to build weapons neither country could develop alone," the publications wrote.
[...] China and Russia are working on their own versions of Starlink, but neither is close to fielding anywhere near SpaceX's current constellation of more than 10,000 satellites. This could soon change, at least for China, which recovered its first reusable orbital-class rocket booster following a launch earlier this month. Mastering rocket reuse will allow Chinese companies to ramp up their launch cadence, unlocking new capacity for deploying mega-constellations.
It's no surprise, then, that China and Russia feel threatened by Starlink. The role of commercial satellites in warfare has sparked speculative discussions on their legitimacy as military targets, and what the Pentagon's role should be in defending them. This theoretical debate is rapidly turning into reality.
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