Starlink (Illustrative photo: Depisitphotos)

Two NATO intelligence services suspect that Russia is developing a new anti-satellite weapon that could attack the Starlink system. About reports Associated Press, citing intelligence that the agency has reviewed.

According to the AP, this is a so-called "area effect" weapon that aims to fill Starlink's orbits with hundreds of thousands of high-density pellets. This could potentially disable several satellites simultaneously and carries the risk of serious collateral damage to other orbital systems.

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"The most damage would probably be to the solar panels, as they are probably the most fragile part of the satellites. However, it would be enough to damage the satellite and probably disable it," said Clayton Swope, a space security and weapons specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

This could lead to uncontrolled chaos in space, which would threaten Russia and China, among others. They also rely on orbiting satellites for communications, defense, and other needs. Such consequences could deter Moscow from deploying or using such weapons.

The intelligence materials do not indicate when such a system could be deployed, whether it has been tested, or at what stage of development it is. According to the AP source, the system is in active development, but information about the timing is confidential.

Victoria Samson, a space security specialist at the Secure World Foundation, said she did not believe in the practical implementation of such a system. At the same time, Brigadier General Christopher Horner, commander of the Canadian Armed Forces Space Division, noted that he did not consider such a development implausible given previous US accusations of Russia's efforts to develop indiscriminate space-based nuclear weapons.

  • on November 27, it became known that at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, after the launch of the Soyuz spacecraft damaged the only launch site for manned missions. Thus, Russia lost the ability to launch people into space.