Why is China’s military so worried about Starlink? A Rand report has a warning
US Space Force needs to prepare for provocation after claim that Chinese satellites practised ‘dogfight’ manoeuvres, report says
The US satellite constellation Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, could be at risk of attack by China, which is in the process of building its own equivalent system, a US think tank has warned.
The Rand Corporation report published on Monday suggested that the US Space Force (USSF) should prepare for potentially more provocative operations in space from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“The USSF should anticipate and develop policies that address an evolving escalation dynamic in which the PLA takes advantage of a US-China vulnerability gap in space to harass US systems,” it said.
According to the report, titled “Chinese Military Views of Low Earth Orbit”, the PLA tends to “exaggerate and catastrophise” the threat of Starlink and “probably believes it can prosecute more provocative operations against the US without risk of escalation”.
The PLA perceived Starlink with the “worst-case thinking”, as ordered by President Xi Jinping, the report said.
While China had prioritised development of its own proliferated networks in low Earth orbit (LEO), until they were completed Starlink represented an “asymmetric vulnerability”, it added.