China wants to develop weapons against Starlink, as satellites can be used for military purposes

The Chinese military want to be able to disable or even destroy Starlink Internet satellites. They stated this in an article in the journal Modern Defense Technology. The authors emphasize that satellites can be used for military purposes for the benefit of other states. This threatens China’s national security.

Military researchers are calling for the development of both soft and hard ways to protect against satellites. Hard could physically destroy satellites, for example, with missiles. The soft ones would be aimed at Starlink software and operating system.

In addition, the authors suggest tracking each satellite. In particular, this will not allow the United States to launch military vehicles with another batch of satellites. They warn that Starlink has a strong military base.

In particular, their launch pads are being built on military bases. SpaceX also previously received funding from the U.S. Air Force to study how satellites can encrypt with military aircraft. Chinese scientists warn that Starlink can speed up communication between fighters and drones by more than 100 times.

“When completed, Starlink satellites can be mounted with reconnaissance, navigation, and meteorological devices to further enhance the US military’s combat capability in such areas as reconnaissance remote sensing, communications relay, navigation and positioning, attack and collision, and space sheltering,” the article reads.

Between hard and soft ways of fighting satellites, Chinese scientists are more inclined to soft ones. The physical destruction of Starlink could create a lot of space debris, which will hinder Chinese space missions. Also, the destruction of several satellites will not interfere with the operation of the entire system. Today, the Starlink constellation already has 2,500 satellites.