Kalinka, the new Russian archenemy of Starlink, Starshield
2 Min Read
The system’s effectiveness is largely influenced by the terrain in the monitored area and the presence of other electronic systems utilized by opposing forces.
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Starlink satellite antennas are seen at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA), the international trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, on August 31, 2023, during a preview at the fairgrounds in Berlin (AFP)
Kalinka, a newly developed Russian monitoring system created by the Center for Unmanned Systems and Technologies (CBST), is designed to detect and pinpoint signals from satellite communication stations, including Elon Musk’s well-known Starlink network, Sputnik reported on Saturday.
According to Andrey Bezrukov, chairman of the CBST board, Kalinka can swiftly identify and target Starlink terminals, leveraging the unchanged fundamental principles of radio signal transmission since the invention of radio.
Bezrukov further asserted that even the use of Starshield, a militarized version of Starlink employed by Ukrainian forces, would not mask their communication terminals from Kalinka’s detection capabilities.
The system’s effectiveness is largely influenced by the terrain in the monitored area and the presence of other electronic systems utilized by opposing forces, Sputnik highlighted.
As for mass production, Bezrukov indicated that it hinges on the level of demand from Russian military operations within the conflict zone.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has provided Ukraine’s military with a substantial number of Starlink communication terminals.
Ukrainian forces have used Starlink extensively to coordinate military operations and to control aerial and naval drones deployed in attacks on Russian infrastructure.
Starlink, operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a low Earth orbit satellite network designed to deliver internet access to remote areas or regions where conventional communication infrastructure has been disrupted.
In 2022, Musk declined a request to activate Starlink in the Crimean city of Sevastopol to support a Ukrainian assault on Russia’s naval fleet, stating that doing so would have made SpaceX "explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation."
Read more: SpaceX launches 13 US military satellites to low-Earth orbit
