Russia has launched the first satellites of its Starlink counterpart into orbit

Russia has launched the first 16 "Rassvet" satellites as part of the "Bureau 1440" project, which is the Russian counterpart to the American high-speed mobile internet system Starlink. The spacecraft are currently operating exclusively in test mode, as a constellation of at least 200–250 satellites is required to ensure stable and continuous data transmission. 

Sergey “Flash” Beskrestnov, a radio technology specialist and advisor to the Minister of Defense, reported this on his Facebook page.

According to the expert, the Kremlin clearly understands the importance of low-Earth orbit communications, which is why it has announced plans to launch 300 satellites in the coming years, with a subsequent expansion of the network to 1,000 units, although the actual timelines are constantly being adjusted. Currently, the existing satellites pass over Ukraine approximately once a day, providing communication for only 6–10 minutes. Beskrestnov noted that while, in theory, the occupiers could integrate such terminals into “Shahed” strike UAVs to transmit information during the brief overflight window, such a scheme is too complex to organize and would have no practical military value until a full-fledged satellite constellation is in place.

The minister’s advisor also explained that Ukraine will detect the start of combat use of the “Rassvet” system through monitoring of radio-electronic traffic, intelligence data, or the first captured trophies. Assessing countermeasures, Beskrestnov noted that over four years of full-scale war, Russia’s technological capabilities have failed to block the operation of U.S. “Starlink” satellites, so completely neutralizing a large number of Russian satellites in the future will be a difficult task. However, Ukrainian specialists already have specific technical plans for countermeasures, the testing of which will begin immediately upon the emergence of real signs of the militarization of this project.

Recently, the American company SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket, which placed another batch of 24 Starlink internet satellites into Earth orbit.

SpaceX earned $8 billion last year.