The Russian Federation has developed the Kalinka system, which allows calculating the Starlink signal in the area of its
The Kalinka radio direction finder has been created in Russia. This complex is capable of detecting and locating signals from Starlink-type systems. Currently, the Kalinka is being tested in combat conditions in the SVO zone. Why it is so important to fight Starlink and how Russia was going to fight satellite communication systems developed by the company of American businessman Elon Musk - in the material of the military observer "Gazeta.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.
According to the developers, the complex allows you to detect an unmanned boat with a Starlink terminal at a distance of up to 15 km and then hit it with machine gun fire. Currently, work is already underway to improve the Kalinka, which will allow detecting unmanned aerial vehicles of a heavy class (such as Baba Yaga) that use Starlink terminals to solve navigation problems. In addition, using Kalinka, it is possible to calculate the location of fixed Starlink communication nodes. You can mount the Kalinka on a wide variety of vehicles, up to jet skis.
What is Starlink?
To begin with, let's recall what Starlink is (star - "star" and link - "connection, connection"). This is a global artificial satellite system created by SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) Elon Musk to provide access to high-speed broadband satellite Internet in places where it was unreliable, expensive or completely inaccessible (in the future, access to the network will be possible from anywhere on the surface of the globe).
As part of the Starlink deployment, it is planned to launch up to 42 thousand spacecraft. Currently, there are more than 6 thousand spacecraft in orbit. The Starlink spacecraft itself is relatively small and weighs only 260 kg. The altitude of the Starlink satellites ranges from 328 to 1150 km.
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Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
Since 2022, the Starlink system has been actively used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to communicate and transmit information between units and guide unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as adjust artillery fire. Since 2024, the APU has gained access to the secure subsystem of the Starshield network.
The Starlink user terminal has dimensions of about 50 by 60 cm and is equipped with a phased array antenna, which allows you to generate an acutely directional signal and "see" the spacecraft of the system. Let's add that a huge number of Starlink terminals have been delivered to Ukraine over the years.
How to fight?
If there is a satellite communication system that is actively used by the enemy, then it must be dealt with somehow. In particular, earlier ideas were voiced to hit Starlink spacecraft with anti-satellite warfare. However, there is no clear answer as to whether such a system is deployed on the territory of the Russian Federation, and whether it allows to hit spacecraft at altitudes of more than 300 km.
Among other things, such an idea is ephemeral from the very beginning, since it is required to hit several thousand spacecraft with anti-missiles, the starting weight of each of which exceeds many tens of tons (if not hundreds). No economy in the world can withstand such a "shooting". Among other things, there are legal issues here - launches of anti-missiles against the grouping of Starlink spacecraft can be regarded as an act of aggression against the United States (the system is American, anyway).
Theoretically, electronic warfare could be used to combat Starlink. However, Russian electronic warfare systems against the satellite terminals of this system are ineffective for a number of reasons. Silencing Starlink is currently a very technically difficult and almost unrealistic task.
In this regard, the creation of the Kalinka radio direction finder, quite possibly, should be considered as one of the steps to solve this problem. And so far, for completely objective reasons (too little data), it is very difficult to draw any unambiguous conclusions. The best exam for any type of weapons and military equipment is combat use. Time will tell how effective Kalinka will be.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
