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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, defense 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 nongovernmental 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 U.S. 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.


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 organization was not able to independently verify the findings’ conclusions.

The U.S. Space Force didn’t respond to e-mailed 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.

Canada’s Horner said it is hard to see how clouds of pellets could be corralled to only strike Starlink and that debris from such an attack could get “out of control in a hurry.”

“You blow up a box full of BBs,” he said. Doing that would “blanket an entire orbital regime and take out every Starlink satellite and every other satellite that’s in a similar regime. And I think that’s the part that is incredibly troubling.”

System is possibly just experimental
The findings seen by the AP didn’t say when Russia might be capable of deploying such a system nor detail whether it has been tested or how far along research is believed to be.

The system is in active development and information about the timing of an expected deployment is too sensitive to share, according to an official familiar with the findings and other related intelligence that the AP did not see. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the nonpublic findings.

Such Russian research could be simply experimental, Samson said.

“I wouldn’t put it past some scientists ... to build out something like this because it’s an interesting thought-experiment and they think, you know, ‘Maybe at some point we can get our government to pay for it,’” she said.

Samson suggested the specter of a supposed new Russian threat may also be an effort to elicit an international response.

“Often times people pushing these ideas are doing it because they want the U.S. side to build something like that or ... to justify increased spending on counterspace capabilities or using it for a more hawkish approach on Russia,” she said.


“I’m not saying that this is what’s happening with this,” Samson added. “But it has been known to happen that people take these crazy arguments and use them.”

Tiny pellets could remain undetected
The intelligence findings say the pellets would be so small — just millimeters across — that they would evade detection by ground- and space-based systems that scan for space objects, which could make it hard to pin blame for any attack on Moscow.

Clayton Swope, who specializes in space security and weaponry at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based security and policy think tank, said if “the pellets are not trackable, that complicates things” but “people would figure it out.”

“If satellites start winking out with damage, I guess you could put two and two together,” he said.

Exactly how much destruction tiny pellets could do isn’t clear. In November, a suspected impact by a small piece of debris was sufficient to damage a Chinese spacecraft that was meant to bring three astronauts back to the Earth.

“Most damage would probably be done to the solar panels because they’re probably the most fragile part” of satellites, Swope said. “That’d be enough, though, to damage a satellite and probably bring it offline.”

‘Weapon of fear’ could threaten chaos
After such an attack, pellets and debris would over time fall back toward Earth, possibly damaging other orbiting systems on their way down, analysts say.

Starlink’s orbits are about 550 kilometers (340 miles) above the planet. China’s Tiangong space station and the International Space Station operate at lower orbits, “so both would face risks,” according to Swope.

The space chaos that such a weapon could cause might enable Moscow to threaten its adversaries without actually having to use it, Swope said.

“It definitely feels like a weapon of fear, looking for some kind of deterrence or something,” he said.

Samson said the drawbacks of an indiscriminate pellet-weapon could steer Russia off such a path.

“They’ve invested a huge amount of time and money and human power into being, you know, a space power,” she said.

Using such a weapon “would effectively cut off space for them as well,” Samson said. ”I don’t know that they would be willing to give up that much.”

CodeTemplarr:
If true, then that dude called Putin is overdoing it.

FreeStuffsNG:
I disagree sir. It's war that the west took to him and I am even surprised that he hadn't done this earlier than now given the losses Russia has recorded from the use of Starlink satellites to target strategic national assets inside Russia.

Will US fold its arms of it was Palestine using such satellites to destroy its proxy, Isreal? I don't think so.


This is why Putin is not giving in to any concession in the effort to end the war. He is not stupid to know that he is at war with USA too.

This is why people should think before starting wars. FT just reported that due to the Gaza genocide, Isrealis in UAE have all gone into hiding.

CodeTemplarr:
6what did the west throw at putin? Iran is no longer the islamic and anti-christ messiah. Russia is.

FreeStuffsNG:
I disagree sir. It's war that the west took to him and I am even surprised that he hadn't done this earlier than now given the losses Russia has recorded from the use of Starlink satellites to target strategic national assets inside Russia.

Will US fold its arms of it was Palestine using such satellites to destroy its proxy, Isreal? I don't think so.


This is why Putin is not giving in to any concession in the effort to end the war. He is not stupid to know that he is at war with USA too.

This is why people should think before starting wars. FT just reported that due to the Gaza genocide, Isrealis in UAE have all gone into hiding.

YeyeGbami:
Them wey dey suspect sef get the weapon

ottersberger:
Would you mind explaining how, in your view, the West transformed what was clearly an unprovoked act of Russian aggression against a sovereign nation, Ukraine, into an issue for which Russia itself is somehow the victim?.

The primary reason this senseless war against the Ukrainian people has dragged on for so long is the return of Donald Trump to power in the United States. Prior to that, Putin was clearly losing ground due to consistent European and U.S. support, as well as the resilience, adaptability, and ingenuity of the Ukrainian military.

Who would have believed that a comparatively small country like Ukraine, without a navy and relying on what could be described as an improvised air force, could bog down a much larger and more heavily armed Russia for four years?. This is especially striking given that Putin had arrogantly and strategically planned the war to last only a matter of weeks, in cahoots with Belarus.

ottersberger:
If dem born Putin well, make him do any nonsense to space satellites, na dere him go see agbako. He will find out the US military is not called the greatest fighting force in mankind's history for nothing.

FreeStuffsNG:
You just lifted a remark out from the conspiracy theorists playbook.

Russia is not pre-1948 Palestine that was naive enough to let the west import and plant Europeans in their backyard and today have been systematically annihilated and crushed.


Russia and Putin is not naive. Is it not same demand by Putin that Russia will not permit Ukraine to join NATO so that NATO will not build a another 'terror-project' in its backyard that Trump is today offering Putin?

So who is now right? Even Trump said it was a stupid idea to insist that Ukraine join NATO when Russia is vehemently opposed to it.

CodeTemplarr:
If true, then that dude called Putin is overdoing it.

Mrexcell:
Russia will some day invent weapons that will end up destroying themselves.

Ezyp:
These people can fear Russia...

matify83:
One thing I know of the next world war is that survivors would need sticks and stones to start another one.

This is not a new allegation .

Russia was accused of firing a space weapon in 2020 at one of its own decommissioned satellites spreading debris which could have destroyed nearby satellites.

Father4all:
una never cee anything. Russia will finish you all. Even Americans