European outlets report China-Russia work on counters to Starlink
The Insider, Der Spiegel and Le Monde said documents show wider military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow, including space weapons discussions.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
2 min read
Three European news organizations say China and Russia have discussed ways to counter SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband network. The report matters because it places Starlink, a commercial system owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, inside a broader set of military cooperation talks between two nuclear powers.
The Insider, Der Spiegel and Le Monde published the findings last week after what they described as a long-running investigation. The outlets said their reporters reviewed a cache of documents that detailed expanding military ties between China and Russia.
According to the investigation, the records covered several areas of defense cooperation. The subjects included integrated air and missile defense systems, autonomous loitering munitions described as “swarm” weapons, next-generation armored vehicles and military aviation.
The outlets also reported that the documents pointed to a deeper partnership on space weapons than either government has publicly acknowledged. One area of focus, according to the report, was the development of strategies aimed at defeating or countering Starlink.
Starlink is SpaceX’s satellite broadband network. The investigation described the system as a target of interest for both China and Russia in their discussions of space-related military capabilities.
The report did not describe the documents as limited to space systems. Instead, The Insider, Der Spiegel and Le Monde presented the Starlink material as part of a wider set of defense conversations between Beijing and Moscow.
According to the outlets, the documents show that China and Russia have explored cooperation across air defense, missile defense, unmanned weapons, armored platforms, aircraft and space weapons. The Starlink-related material was singled out as one of the clearest examples of shared interest in countering a Western commercial space system with military relevance.
The governments of China and Russia have not acknowledged a space-weapons partnership as extensive as the one described in the investigation, according to the reporting by The Insider, Der Spiegel and Le Monde. The documents reviewed by the outlets, they said, suggest cooperation that goes beyond public statements by either country.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.