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China’s military
ChinaMilitary

China’s PLA accuses US of ‘militarising space’ with Elon Musk’s Starshield satellite network

  • PLA Daily warns that deal between US military and new SpaceX unit poses huge security challenges for ‘other countries’
  • Starshield to reportedly put hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbit to ‘quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe’

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The planned Starshield network “has not only upgraded its secure communication capabilities” from the Starlink satellite internet system, “but further expanded its Earth observation and payload capabilities”, according to the PLA Daily. Photo: SpaceX
Hayley Wongin Beijing
The official newspaper of China’s military has accused the United States of “militarising space” by building a sophisticated spy satellite network with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, causing “huge challenges” for information and space asset security of “other countries”.

The Starshield unit of the US entrepreneur’s space business is reportedly developing a constellation of hundreds of low-Earth orbit satellites that would allow the US government and military to “quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe”.

According to Reuters, Starshield and the National Reconnaissance Office, a Washington intelligence agency that manages spy satellites, signed a classified US$1.8 billion contract in 2021.

In the Ukraine and Gaza wars, advanced satellite internet and communication have provided military advantages, opening up a new arena for US-China tech rivalry.

A commentary in military mouthpiece PLA Daily on Friday said such a network of satellites could potentially “warn and intercept missiles and control unmanned combat platforms remotely”, and could play “an extremely important role on the battlefield”.
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