Capabilities of Starlink Satellites Alarm China’s Military

China Military Online said Wednesday that the international community should be on high alert on the matter of SpaceX’s planning to increase the constellation of Starlink internet satellites from 12 000 to 42 000.

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The Chinese news site affiliated with the Central Military Commission, the PRC’s top national defense organ, said, “in addition to supporting communication, Starlink, as experts [have] estimated, could also interact with UAVs and, using big data and facial recognition technology might have already played a part in Ukraine’s military operations against Russia,” referring to the SpaceX’s intentions to use Starlink for providing high-speed internet services to Ukraine amid Kiev's conflict with Russia and the Donbass.

He commented on his doubts about Starlink’s lofty statements saying that it was a “civilian” program because of its links with the U.S. military. Some of the satellite launch sites have been built directly inside the Vanderberg Air Force Base. In May 2020, the U.S. Military, alongside SpaceX, signed a deal to use Starlink in the transmission of data through Pentagon networks. In October of the same year, the corporation won a 150 million dollars contract to create satellites for military use.

In light of the internet capabilities reached by Satrarlink, reporting successful testing of data transmission between F-35 fighters with speeds up to 160 megabytes per second, the Chinese outlet sad that “When completed, Starlink satellites can be mounted with reconnaissance, navigation and meteorological devices to further enhance the US military’s combat capability in such areas as reconnaissance remote sensing, communications relay, navigation and positioning, attack and collision, and space sheltering.”

According to the media, these tools “will give the US military a head start on the future battlefield and become an ‘accomplice’ for the US to continue to dominate the space.”

A “megaproject that weaves a new net over the Earth, defying restrictions in geography and landform” were the words used by the China Military Online for describing Starlink.

It added that it would serve as a tool for use by the Pentagon and as a new ‘independent’ global internet controlled by Washington, “which will pose a serious challenge to all countries in defending their cyberspace sovereignty and protecting their information security.”