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The PLA study does not mention why Beijing fears Starlink satellites. However, reports in the past have suggested that China thinks that these satellites can be used against them in case of a war, or to attack their space assets Scientists of China’s People Liberation Army (PLA), in a study on targetting satellites threatening Beijing's security, have pointed out that submarines can be used in the future to carry out such action. They specifically mention Starlink's satellites in their study, saying that submarine-based laser weapons can solve several issues when it comes to attacking satellites, especially the kind made by Elon Musk's company. “Taking the satellites launched by the Starlink programme as an example, they are numerous, densely packed, and small in size, making the satellite network extremely resilient. Even if a significant number of satellites are destroyed, there are redundancies to replace them. Therefore, using missiles to attack such satellites is highly inefficient,” Wang Dan, a professor at the Naval Submarine Academy, who headed the study, said. The study was published in the Chinese-language journal Command Control & Simulation. The researchers in the paper suggest that solid-state, megawatt-class laser weapon on submarines can fire at satellites from under the water while remaining hidden from enemies as it can retract its “optoelectronic mast” back into the ocean. They believe such submarines can be mass-produced and stationed in different oceans to counter military threats to China. Also Read: China plans to connect Earth with the moon through a communication superhighway However, there was no mention of how the Starlink satellites threaten China's security. In the past, some reports have indicated that Beijing believes Starlink satellites are a "network of spy satellites" being built for the US. A few weeks back, another report by PLA’s researchers stated that the country is analysing whether Starlink played a role in a potential Taiwan contingency. Notably, Ukraine has been using Starlink satellites to fight back in its war against Russia. Reportedly, Chinese academics in the PLA have been trying to understand how Starlink satellites help secure military communications in Ukraine. Beijing is said to be concerned that Taiwan might also use Starlink terminals to fight back in the event of a Chinese invasion. Some experts have also pointed out that future Starlink satellites might carry additional payloads for military operations. Notably, SpaceX and the Pentagon have jointly launched the Starshield programme to reportedly track China’s hypersonic weapons. In 2021, two Starlink satellites came extremely close to the Chinese space station, triggering emergency evacuation procedures. This seems to have convinced Beijing that using satellites to target space assets might become a possibility in the future. As per the study, the bigger challenge in anti-satellite operations is hiding the attack. Ground-to-air attacks have a few issues, including concealment, as per the scientists. Missile launches leave behind smoke trails, which can help enemies detect the location of the activity and respond. Terming such attacks “too risky”, the study added that these satellites were getting smaller, making things more difficult. The United States, in an article published earlier this year, had also talked of submarines launching anti-satellite attacks. Anamica Singh started her career as a sports journalist and then moved on to writing on entertainment, news and lifestyle. She dabbles in copy editing, vid None
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