Intelligence agencies suspect Russia is developing a new anti-satellite weapon to destroy the Starlink satellite network with “destructive clouds of debris in orbit.”
The so-called area-of-effect weapon would fill Starlink's orbits with hundreds of thousands of high-density pellets, according to intelligence data reviewed by the AP. This could take out several satellites, but also poses the risk of catastrophic collateral damage to other orbital systems.
The balls will be so small – only a few millimeters in diameter – that they will not be detectable by ground-based or space-based systems. This could reportedly make it difficult to blame Moscow for any attack.
The findings, seen by the AP, did not indicate when Russia would be able to deploy such a system. However, according to an agency source, the weapon is now actively being developed.
As the AP notes, analysts doubt that such a system could work without causing “uncontrollable chaos in space” for Russia itself and its ally China. They believe that risks to its own space systems could distract Moscow from deploying or using such weapons.
However, Christopher Horner, commander of the Canadian Forces Space Division, said this could not be dismissed given previous US accusations that Russia was also developing nuclear space weapons.
“If the reports about nuclear weapons are accurate and they are willing to develop them and are willing to go all the way, then it wouldn’t surprise me that something smaller but just as harmful is in their development plans,” he said.
The French military's space command said in a statement to the AP that it could not comment on the intelligence services' findings, but said: “We can report that Russia has intensified irresponsible, dangerous and even hostile activities in space in recent years.”
Context
In June, media reported that the Russian-launched space satellite Kosmos 2588 entered an orbit that closely mirrors the trajectory of the US government's USA 338. This is the fourth time in five years that a Russian military satellite has been placed in the same orbit as a US military optical reconnaissance satellite. Such actions have deepened suspicions that the Cosmos vehicles are in fact anti-satellite weapons rather than conventional satellites.
In July, the media also wrote that Russian space weapon developers were preparing to launch an object that would threaten Western satellites circling the Earth. Russia's main target was Starlink satellites.
