E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Interference for Starlink. How Russia can fight enemy satellites
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Oleg Krivoshapov

[REGNUM] Commander of the US Space Forces Chance Saltzman accused Russia of trying to disrupt the US Starlink satellite communications system in Ukraine. He stated this in an interview with The Washington Post, assuring that such attempts were allegedly unsuccessful.

The American general also said that the United States intends to launch up to a thousand satellites into low Earth orbit for the needs of the Pentagon, and a large number of these devices will make it much more difficult to counter them.

At the same time, the commander of the US Space Forces complained about the lack of personnel in his subordinate troops.

DEPRIVE THE ENEMY OF NAVIGATION
Sergey Denisentsev, an expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, points out that the struggle of Russian troops with the navigation capabilities of the enemy, who receives the support of the US satellite constellation, is taking place in extremely harsh conditions. “You can interfere with ground-based receivers operating in the GPS system, ” says the interlocutor of IA Regnum . - But with satellites it is more difficult. For example, it is useless to interfere with the Starlink system, because there are already thousands of satellites operating in it.

Countering the satellite navigation of the American space group is not an easy task, military expert Ilya Kramnik agrees . Theoretically, it is possible to shoot down satellites with which navigation is carried out. “But now we are not doing this, because we are not at war with the United States ,” the expert ironically.

“We have means of combat capable of “jamming ”satellite navigation,” he clarifies. “We can see everything perfectly, for example, by the way navigation problems sometimes arise in the center of Moscow.” However, “jamming” navigation to intercept Ukrainian drones, whether for other purposes, is the result of the work, first of all, of stationary installations of rather high power, Kramnik clarifies.

“It is far from always possible to deploy them at the forefront, since these installations betray themselves by their very presence, by their work ,” says the interlocutor of IA Regnum . - They can be localized and, accordingly, destroyed. So they always become a point of attraction, an object of shelling from the enemy.

“The peculiarity of electronic, electronic intelligence is that if a jamming station is used, then it is a source of radiation, it will be visible ,” the expert clarifies. “It is enough to have special means that will fix it, after which it is physically possible to detect it on the ground and hit it - this is a matter of technology.”

However, the skillful actions of the Russian military, even with the available capabilities, often do not leave the enemy a chance. So, on August 13, the Russian Ministry of Defense published footage of the destruction of the Starlink kit by a drone, which was used by the Ukrainian military for their own purposes, which indicates the accumulation and use of certain experience in identifying ground communication and navigation stations.

DEVELOP YOUR SPACE GROUP
At the same time, Russian satellites, as Kramnik notes, pose big problems for Ukraine due to the efficient operation of the domestic Glonass system.

The expert notes that Russia needs to increase its satellite constellation. “This requires a sharp increase in the production of satellites themselves and related electronics,” he states. “And success will depend on how we can establish channels for delivering electronics from abroad.”

“It is necessary to develop our own space program,” Denisentsev agrees. - Launch satellites - reconnaissance, optical. Deploy your Starlink counterpart in collaboration with external partners. Let's say China. In India, astronautics is developing quite cheerfully.

However, it will not be possible to solve the problem with the help of separate programs, the interlocutor of IA Regnum emphasizes . A systematic approach is needed, including agreements at the highest political level. And this need also implies certain difficulties.

“Partnership in this area with India is obviously a difficult issue ,” says Denisentsev. “The space programs that it is developing now, the same lunar program, are developing due to the ability to interact with Western countries, to receive electronic components from them.”

At the same time, the prospects for cooperation between Russia and India in the field of developing a satellite constellation, given the sanctions policy of the West, are vague, the expert emphasizes. “We need electronics ,” notes the interlocutor of IA Regnum . “It was not easy to buy it before, but after the sanctions it is very difficult.”

And the Soviet Union, which was the leader in the space race for many years, whose heir is Russia, ceased to exist more than 30 years ago, recalls Denisentsev. “In the segment of electronics for space, we are far behind, since Russian technologies in this area have not developed ,” he says. “Including because in the 2000s they relied heavily on imported component base.”

However, there are still reasons for optimism. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the BRICS summit in South Africa, invited the member countries to create a space research consortium to deepen cooperation in space. It is noteworthy that such a statement was made after the successful landing of the Indian station. For the first time in history, the device landed on the south pole of the Earth's satellite.

Earlier, military political scientist Vladimir Kornilov emphasized in a commentary to IA Regnum that the interview of the commander of the US Space Force Saltzman should be taken very seriously, as they mean the US is preparing for fierce competition for outer space.

Thus, Russia has the ability to counter the US space constellation, but success in the future will largely depend on the availability of a large-scale development program for its own constellation. The solution to this problem is complicated by the difficult international situation and the dependence of some of Russia's potential partners in the space sector on Western countries.

At the same time, in the realities of the military special operation in Ukraine, the most effective way to counter the enemy’s navigational capabilities is the physical destruction of ground elements with high-precision artillery and drone strikes. There are also prospects for electronic warfare, but the corresponding devices are relatively vulnerable to strikes. This problem obviously also requires careful study at a high expert level.

Posted by: badanov 2023-08-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=676739