Seeing the SpaceX’s Starlink power in the Ukraine war, the Chinese military has been thinking about how to counter it. Recently, in the February edition of the Command, Control and Simulation Journal, a researcher at China’s Space Engineering University published a thesis, “The Impact of Starlink’s Cconstellation on Space Situational Awareness and Countermeasures.”
The article said that Starlink’s near 42,000 low-orbit satellites can realize high-speed network communication and a high military potential, as well as present a huge threat to China’s space development.
The China Satellite Network Group Co. Ltd. has a “Giant Constellations” plan called Guo Wang (GW), Chinese words “国网,” (meaning National Web), to deploy 13,000 low-orbit Internet satellites, to compete with and occupy orbital tracks and radio frequencies. That company was established by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) on April 28, 2021, with 10 billion yuan in registered capital.
The thesis also said that it can deploy “lethal” weapons on its satellites, such as lasers and high-powered microwaves weapons, to attack the Starlink satellites. “If necessary, (China) can paralyze the Starlink with specialized electronic warfare and sophisticated electromagnetic jamming techniques.”
SpaceX owner, Elon Musk, mentioned on October 7, 2022, that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expressed that they did not want him to use Starlink to help the Ukrainian army and asked him to guarantee not to sell the Starlink service in China. He also said in 2015 that the CCP threatened that they would blow out his satellites if he provided the Chinese people with network service which would bypass the CCP’s censorship.
Sources:
1. Liberty Times, February 25, 2023
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/4222704
2. Epoch Times, March 3, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/3/3/n13942178.htm