Russia is already using its “Rassvet” satellite network for military communications over Ukraine, Ukrainian military intelligence told “Reuters”. The system is presented as a Russian equivalent of Starlink and is intended to make attack drones more accurate and harder to jam.
Since the beginning of the year, Moscow has launched 32 “Rassvet” satellites into orbit in two stages – in March and July. Last month, the Russian government said that Russia had launched more than 30 satellites, while Ukrainian intelligence gave the specific number of spacecraft in the new constellation.
At present, “Rassvet” does not provide continuous coverage over Ukrainian territory. “Russia is using the ‘Rassvet’ satellite system over the territory of Ukraine for military purposes,” said Andrii Yusov, a spokesperson for the Main Directorate of Intelligence. According to him, communications are available only during the periods when the satellites pass over the respective areas.
Drones can receive data in real time
According to the HUR, the system can provide two-way data exchange between Russian operators and unmanned aircraft over Ukraine. This would allow reconnaissance drones to transmit information in real time, while the routes of attack drones could be changed during flight.
As a result, the drones could adapt to changes in the location of targets and avoid air defense systems. Yusov said that in the long term, this could increase the effectiveness of Russian attack and reconnaissance unmanned aircraft and make them more difficult to intercept with electronic warfare systems.
Kyiv security expert Mykola Zientsev points to signs that “Rassvet” is influencing the accuracy of strikes by Russian jet-powered drones. According to him, Russia already has at least two daily time windows for satellite communications, each lasting more than an hour. He describes this as sufficient to have operational consequences.
Moscow plans more launches
Russia plans new launches by the end of the year to expand the geographic coverage of “Rassvet” and gradually build a fully fledged satellite communications system in low Earth orbit.
Bureau 1440, the coordinator of the Russian state-backed project, said it plans a constellation of more than 900 spacecraft by 2035. By comparison, SpaceX’s Starlink network has more than 10,000 satellites, while its military version, Starshield, is used by Ukrainian forces but not in Russia.
Ukrainian intelligence has published a list of 49 companies from Russia and Belarus that it says are involved in the project. President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions on 10 companies linked to the development of “Rassvet”, including Bureau 1440.
Deputy Chief of the HUR Major General Vadym Skibitskyi said in August that Russia was building the system faster than initially planned and that Ukraine was discussing ways to counter it. Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Washington, Denys Siienik, called on the United States to also impose sanctions on the companies involved. According to him, Chinese components are being used in the project.
Sources: news.bg, marketscreener.com