Shooting Starlink: The “no limits” partnership between Russia and China is taking aim at Elon Musk - The Insider - RNTF
Image: ShutterstockWhat’s new:More information about how thewars and potential wars in spaceare shaping up. Why it’s important:TheU. S. is far more dependent on space than any other nation. For a while space was. . .
Image: ShutterstockWhat’s new:More information about how thewars and potential wars in spaceare shaping up. Why it’s important:TheU. S. is far more dependent on space than any other nation. For a while space was a safe place to put critical assets. Now, not so much. What else to know:Musk and Starlink are an interesting case. If Russia and/or China attack Starlink assets are they really attacking the U. S. ?Will the U. S. go to war over a business interruption? Lots of layers and things to think about here. The Insideris an independent investigative digital publication is founded by Russian journalist Roman Dobrokhotov. It isoperated primarily by Russian journalists in exile, and is headquartered in Riga, Latvia. Secret documents from a series of clandestine Russian-Chinese military forums reveal a joint plan to defeat Elon Musk’s Starlink and a weapons development partnership far deeper than either country will admit. From air- and missile-defense systems to AI-enhanced drone capabilities, cooperation between Moscow and Beijing is allowing Russian forces to keep pace with Ukrainian innovations while China gains the opportunity to test its wares under combat conditions. Although the threat of increased Western sanctions continues to place constraints on their “no limits” partnership, Russia and China are moving forward with several joint projects — and former U. S. military officers are concerned about Washington’s will to stop them. By the fall of 2023, Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet network, had become a primary means of communication on the Ukrainian battlefield. Medics used its terminals to coordinate evacuations, artillery crews to correct their fire, and drone operators to fly in real time. “Starlink is now actually the blood of our entire communications infrastructure,” Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s then-minister of digital transformation and now its defense minister, said that September. As of November, SpaceX had delivered more than 40,000 terminals to Ukraine, and the system had grown so central to the country’s war effort that U. S. officials described it as irreplaceable. READ MOREWhat Can YOU Do? How Can YOU Help?PNT is the quiet backbone of everything but too many leaders still don't see the risk. Butyoudo. You understand the systems, the dependencies, the failure chains. That insight is rare — and it's exactly what your country needs right now. Contact your government leaders and industry decision-makers and tell them resilient PNT isn't a feature— it's the foundation everything else depends on. When you get a response,let us know. Every conversation strengthens the mission. More PNT NewsGet PNT News in Your Inbox