Kathrine Frich
For decades, military planners treated space as a support domain. It is important, but distant.
That assumption no longer holds.
Western defence officials are increasingly concerned that commercial satellite networks are becoming frontline assets in modern war. At the centre of that shift sits Starlink.
A battlefield above Earth
Starlink’s low Earth orbit constellation has transformed how Ukraine fights, providing resilient internet access where ground-based networks fail.
Drone coordination, battlefield messaging, and unit-level communication now rely on a system owned by a private company rather than a state.
That dependency has quietly reshaped military doctrine. It has also created a vulnerability.
Russian officials have previously stated that satellites supporting Ukraine’s armed forces are “legitimate targets,” language that alarmed NATO space and defence planners long before any specific weapons were discussed.
Intelligence signals concern
According to reporting by Newsweek, intelligence services in two NATO countries believe Russia is developing a counterspace capability aimed at disrupting or destroying Starlink satellites.
The report did not identify the agencies involved and could not be independently confirmed.
Technical assessments cited separately by the Associated Press suggest the system under consideration would not function like a traditional missile strike.
Instead, analysts described a method designed to affect clusters of satellites operating in the same orbital band.
Why debris matters more than accuracy
Unlike precision anti-satellite weapons, an “area-effect” approach would rely on dispersing tiny projectiles into congested orbits.
The danger lies less in the initial strike than in what follows.
Space-policy officials warn that debris can trigger chain reactions, turning usable orbits into long-term hazards.
Once fragmentation begins, even nations not involved in the conflict can lose access.
A lesson from 2021
Russia demonstrated the risks in November 2021, when it destroyed a defunct Soviet satellite during a direct-ascent anti-satellite test.
U.S. Space Command said the strike produced at least 1,500 trackable fragments.
NASA later confirmed that astronauts aboard the International Space Station were forced to shelter as debris passed nearby. The U.S. government condemned the test as “reckless and irresponsible.”’
Sources: Newsweek, Associated Press, U.S. Space Command, NASA, Digi24.
