Russia chasing satellites used by German army
Story by Kieran Kelly, James Rothwell
• 3h
An artist’s rendering of Eutelsat, the European satellite being stalked
Two Russian satellites are shadowing satellites used by German armed forces, the country’s defence minister has said.
Boris Pistorius said Russian Luch Olymp surveillance satellites were trailing Germany’s Intelsat satellites, which are also used by other governments.
He questioned the “purely peaceful nature” of Moscow’s behaviour and warned that Berlin had come close to “real threat scenarios”.
Airports across Norway and Denmark were closed this week by drones that experts suspect were sent by Russia.
In recent weeks, their fighter jets also entered Nato airspace and attack drones flew into Poland in a test to Nato.
Mr Pistorius said satellites were now tracking German equipment in space at a conference in Berlin, where he unveiled new investment in space defences.
“Russia and China have expanded their capabilities for warfare in space rapidly over the past years,” he said. “They can disrupt satellite operations, blind satellites, manipulate or kinetically destroy them.”
He called for talks on how to develop offensive capabilities to keep equipment safe in space. “Russia’s behaviour, especially in space, poses a fundamental threat to us all. It is a threat we can no longer ignore,” he said.
He also warned that Russia could deploy nuclear weapons in space, announcing that Berlin would invest €35 billion (£30.5bn) in space-related defence projects by 2030, including in offensive capabilities.
He said: “We must also be able to deter in space in order to be defensible.”
“Satellite networks today are an Achilles heel of modern societies,” Mr Pistorius said in a speech at the German industry’s third Space Congress in Berlin. “Whoever attacks them paralyses entire nations.”
Mr Pistorius pointed to a Russian cyberattack on the ViaSat satellite network before Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022. The move affected the control of around 6,000 wind turbines in Germany, Defense News reported.
Russia’s Luch Olymp satellites, launched in 2014 and 2023, were built for Russia’s ministry of defence and FSB spy service and have long faced accusations of “eavesdropping” on other countries’ equipment.
Aldoria, a French startup, said it had observed one satellite performing a “sudden close approach” to equipment in geostationary orbit in May last year.
Last year, a Russian “killer satellite” was detected launching a mysterious object near a US spacecraft.
It comes amid growing concerns about escalatory tactics by Russia, primarily using drones, against Nato countries.
According to a report in August by PBS, the US public broadcaster, Russia is also suspected to be developing a special nuclear weapon which could instantly take out all satellites at low-orbit around the earth.
Citing national security officials, PBS said the device’s nuclear component would be used to fry the electronics of satellites within its range.
There are an estimated 12,000 military and civilian satellites surrounding the earth at various orbits.
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Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s interior minister, warned on Thursday that Europe was in a “drone arms race” as the country launched a three-day exercise dubbed “Red Storm Bravo” in the northern city of Hamburg.
Mr Dobrindt, citing hybrid threats and increasing “aggression” from Russia, said Berlin was strengthening its “operational capabilities by developing drone defence systems”.
“We are engaged in an arms race between the threat posed by drones and the means to counter them,” he said, citing recent incidents in Poland, Romania, Denmark and Norway.
Helsing, a German defence startup, unveiled a new combat drone on Thursday, as Europe races to catch up with production against the backdrop of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, warned on Wednesday that it would be cheaper to stop Vladimir Putin now than enter the world’s most dangerous arms race.
“Stopping now is cheaper than wondering who will be the first to create a simple drone carrying a nuclear warhead,” he told the United Nations General Assembly in New York. |
