Alex Constantine - January 11, 2025
By Alex Constantine
In December, Elon Musk made headlines with his signature quack economic policy proposals, but plod through the bad news and you come to a story on Russia's Starlink killer.
On December 16, The Economic Times reported: "Russia has developed a new sophisticated monitoring system to detect and neutralise signals from SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, called Kalinka. This new system often referred to as the 'Starlink killer' is most likely to be Elon Musk's biggest headache when it comes to establishing the Starlink system worldwide. Starlink, operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has been a key communication tool for Ukraine's military since the escalation of Russia’s offensive in February 2022. ..."
Starlink is an enormous investment. In 2018, Musk's SpaceX estimated that an expenditure of $10 billion to design, build, and deploy Starlink's satellites. Each Falcon 9 rocketed into space costs about $67 million. Satarlink inventory maintenance costs alone: about $8.2 billion per year. And income? In 2022, Starlink posted a lousy $1.4 billion in revenue -- a net loss. In 2023, Starlink's revenue was a notch below mediocre.
Kalinka is aimed at Musk's jugular. According to Economic Times, Russia's satellite defense system "can reportedly even detect communication terminals connected to Starshield, a militarized version of Starlink."
Musk's headache is contagious, and it has spread to Ukraine's military leadership. Zelensky's troops rely heavily on Starlink to control drone strikes in Russia, conduct military movements, and carry eal-time communications.
The Times reports, "the system is undergoing rigorous combat testing in Ukraine and has already demonstrated its effectiveness in detecting and targeting Starlink-connected devices. While small-scale production has begun, larger-scale deployment will depend on operational needs and demand from Russian military forces."
China is reportedly developing a defensive system of its own after raising "concerns about the network’s ability to resist jamming and its potential to interfere with national security operations. Some Chinese experts have even suggested exploring methods to disable Starlink satellites if necessary."
Smell that Musk? It's the scent of another corporate bail-out in the blender, but Elon is already well-positioned for parachute funds. Let's see, if Starlink is downgraded to Starjunk, who picks up the tab? Oh, yeah ...