NATO believes Russia is developing weapons against Starlink – AP

Intelligence agencies from two NATO countries suspect that Russia is developing new weapons aimed at satellites, in particular Elon Musk's Starlink satellite communications system.

Source: AP news agency, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Documents from NATO member states' intelligence services reviewed by AP suggest that Russia is developing a weapon capable of releasing hundreds of thousands of fragments into space and striking satellites on a large scale.

It is believed that the fragments would be only a few millimetres in size and would not be detected by either ground-based or space-based systems designed to track objects in space. As a result, it would be difficult to directly blame Russia for such attacks.

NATO intelligence assesses that after such an attack, the fragments and debris from damaged satellites would eventually fall back to Earth and could damage other objects orbiting it.

Meanwhile, analysts interviewed by AP believe that because of these consequences and the risk to Russia's own satellites, Moscow may decide not to use such weapons.

The intelligence documents reviewed by the agency state that Russia considers Starlink satellites to be an extremely serious threat, particularly in the context of assistance to Ukraine during Russia's full-scale invasion.

A number of Western countries have publicly warned of growing threats from Russia to satellites, which are essential for military and economic purposes.

Background:

• Moscow says it opposes any weapons in space and denies US claims that it has placed weapons in Earth's orbit capable of attacking other satellites.
• NATO is alarmed by the possibility that Russia is considering deploying nuclear weapons in space.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!