Potential military application of Starlink

A pop-up can be as simple as a 'dumb' sub-orbital booster lofting a load of scrap into a particular LEO orbit. Indiscriminate, but effective.
 
Grey Havoc said:
A pop-up can be as simple as a 'dumb' sub-orbital booster lofting a load of scrap into a particular LEO orbit. Indiscriminate, but effective.
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Sub-orbital surely means not capable of putting something in orbit? Space LVs typically aren't cheap either, especially when non-re-usable.
 
The scrap doesn't have to stay in orbit, just to be in a certain part of the target/s orbit at a certain point in time. A very loose analogy would be a roadblock. Or, alternatively, an even looser comparison could be had with caltrops, depending on the density/spread of the scrap used.
 
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Grey Havoc said:
The scrap doesn't have to stay in orbit, just to be in a certain part of the target/s orbit at a certain point in time. A very loose analogy would be a roadblock.
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That might work against one satellite but the missile would still need sufficiently accurate guidance to hit a small starlink satellite even with a shotgun KKV, which means it would still cost SM-3 money and that only downs one satellite and there are 6,350 of them and they only weigh 260kg each and cost only $500k each. A single Falcon 9 reusuable launch costs $15m and can launch ~75 of them, bringing the total launched cost per unit to $700k each. Good look developing an ASAT missile for less than that. This is the sole reason Putin has resorted to nuclear ASAT capabilities - even though nukes are expensive it still works out cheaper overall (assuming the satellites aren't radiologically and EMP-hardened military units).
 
There is really no limit on the amount of scrap one can deploy into the paths of LEO platforms, if you have a half decent tech base and don't care much about pesky little things like collateral damage. Not to mention that such boosters wouldn't necessarily need fixed launch sites. And Starlink satellites aren't exactly that maneuverable. Or robust for that matter.
 
Space is big, very big, even in crowded area like LEO. You also can't just put up a fence and expect things to fly thu it. If you want to take down Starlink you have to target every satellite individually. Also throwing up space junk into orbit is a good way to get every nation on the planet to hate you.
 
Forest Green said:
https://www.twz.com/sea/starlink-now-being-deployed-on-u-s-navy-warships
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Sometimes not even officially. On one LCS, the Command Senior Chief and the Chief's Mess took it on themselves to install a secret and unauthorized Starlink terminal and operate it entirely for their own benefit, flat out lying to the XO and CO about its existence.

This story is such a complete clusterfuck. Bunch of totally disastrous chiefs, abetted by a terrible wardroom (The Combat Systems Officer found out about the illegal install when an official Starshield terminal as fitted near it and did not go directly to the XO or CO about it because their "mentors" told them not to!)

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your...ired-to-get-themselves-illegal-warship-wi-fi/
 
stealthflanker said:
-Ku Band non-cooperative Bi/Multi-Static radar for low altitude gap filler radar
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The German Fraunhofer Institute is doing a lot of research in this area with the Sabbia 2.0 project:
https://euro-sd.com/2024/06/articles/38306/stars-in-their-eyes/
Using Starlink in this way is not merely a theoretical idea. Research is advancing to employ Starlink downlink signals as an RF source for passive radar. In late January 2024, Germany’s Ministry of Defence announced that the country was developing a passive radar which could exploit Starlink’s signals. The work is being performed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques (FHR). Reports stated that the system uses a reference antenna which follows Starlink satellites as they cross the sky. The reference antenna detects and copies the signal’s characteristics as these are beamed down to Earth. A second antenna is pointed towards the area of interest the radar is monitoring. The reference signal is compared with those signals coming into the second antenna. This process ascertains if these signals are being altered by targets in the antenna’s field of view.
[...]
The abundance of terrestrial RF tends to diminish in frequencies above ten gigahertz. However, satellite downlink frequencies exist in X-band (7.25-7.75 GHz), Ku-band (10.9-12.75 GHz) and Ka-band (18-20 GHz). As Starlink is showing, some of these wavebands could soon have ubiquitous global availability. Employing satellite RF sources is particularly attractive when you want to use a passive radar over the oceans.
[...]
The movement of the RF transmitter means that imagery of still and moving targets can be processed. When coupled with the characteristics of Starlink’s downlink frequencies, this movement helps provide a target resolution of circa one metre.
[...]
The entire Sabbia-2.0 architecture can weigh as little at 60 kg (132 lb), meaning that it can be easily accommodated on a vehicle. Other applications are being considered for the technology. For example, Sabbia-2.0 could be configured to outfit a ship or aircraft.
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For an overview of the potential and challenges of this technology i can recommend this paper:
Capabilities and challenges of passive radar systems based on broadband low-Earth orbit communication satellites
 
https://www.reuters.com/business/me...e-hit-its-military-communications-2025-07-25/
KYIV, July 25 (Reuters) - Starlink systems used by Ukrainian military units were down for two and a half hours overnight, a senior commander said, part of a global issue that disrupted the satellite internet provider.

Ukraine's forces are heavily reliant on thousands of SpaceX's Starlink terminals for battlefield communications and some drone operations, as they have proved resistant to espionage and signal jamming throughout the three and a half years of fighting Russia's invasion.

Starlink experienced one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline.

"Starlink is down across the entire front," Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's drone forces, wrote on Telegram at 10:41 p.m. (1941 GMT) on Thursday.

Starlink, which has more than 6 million users across roughly 140 countries and territories, later acknowledged the global outage on its X account and said "we are actively implementing a solution."

Brovdi updated his post later to say that by about 1:05 a.m. on Friday the issue had been resolved. He said the incident had highlighted the risk of reliance on the systems, and called for communication and connectivity methods to be diversified.

[snip]
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Question: where/how does Starlink downlink to the rest of the world? I assume that SpaceX has its own downlink sites that handle this?
 
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Grey Havoc said:
A pop-up can be as simple as a 'dumb' sub-orbital booster lofting a load of scrap into a particular LEO orbit. Indiscriminate, but effective.
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Said booster needs a throttlable bus stage, really good guidance and timing, plus a bursting charge/lethality enhancer with a rough guess of 100kg of silica sand.

So now you're talking about a rocket with enough capacity to loft ~200kg to 200km.

Price one of those out for us.
 
Wotan said:
Mongol archers with mobile hotspots. :)
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Qtyv_vIXJ6A
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Charge of the Russian brigade;):D.

jeffb said:
Apparently the Iranians were able to jam starlink successfully during the recent troubles. Scuttlebutt has it that this was achieved with Russian assistance based on their Ukraine experience.

I can't speak to the accuracy of reporting on the mechanism but one description I've seen involved targeting the individual sats as they pass overhead and blasting them with a jamming signal.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2011047830677279044
View: https://x.com/i/status/2011047830677279044

View attachment 799251
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And no doubt Starlink will be very busy working on suitable ECCM for its' Starlink terminals.
 
This quote has been pre-edited for language & that’s also why the original source link has not been included.

Russia begins mass production of Volna Kupol Garant EW system — defense source

Military & Defense, August 28, 12:36

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. Serial production of Russia’s latest electronic warfare system, the Volna Kupol Garant, which is capable of effectively countering the Starlink satellite system, has been started, a Russian defense industry source told TASS.

"The Volna Kupol Garant system has proven effective, and we have begun to produce and deploy it on a larger scale. Now quantity has transformed into quality, and we have essentially blocked the skies from Starlink wherever we need to." ... Today, the Volna has become a factor affecting not only the special military operation zone, but also having global influence. Thanks to its engineers and its military-industrial complex, Russia has suddenly acquired a true instrument of international policy," the source said.

...

How Volna Kupol Garant EW system works

The Russian defense industry source emphasized that Volna Kupol Garant does not interfere with ground terminals. "It operates from above and disrupts the operation of the satellites themselves in orbit. Using a narrow, powerful, directional radio signal, it blinds the satellites’ receiving antennas, causing the spacecraft’s onboard systems to fail and ground terminals to stop functioning. Right before our eyes, the Volna system was conceived, developed, produced as prototypes, and underwent several modifications and improvements. And today, we can safely say that it has entered mass production," the source stated.

According to him, the system’s signal is so powerful that a single Volna Kupol Garant device can shut down Starlink across a vast area. "Several devices can shut down an entire region. Dozens of devices activated simultaneously could cause a temporary disruption in Starlink’s operations. But the most interesting thing is that Russia reserves the right to distribute this technology to all interested countries around the world. Tools with similar capabilities and power have already appeared in China. ...

Earlier, the publication El Mundo reported on numerous complaints from the Ukrainian military that Russian electronic warfare systems had begun jamming Starlink, causing them serious problems. The article said that the Russian electronic warfare system Volna Kupol Garant is capable of disabling the Starlink satellite network, which is widely used by the Ukrainian armed forces.
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