Russia is building a laser-based anti-satellite weapon to blind enemy satellites: Report

Russia is building a laser-based anti-satellite weapon to blind satellites of its enemy countries, says a report by Space.com. The report suggests that the construction was spotted in recent Google Earth images adding that the weapon is being developed at the Russian Ministry of Defense's Krona space facility in Zelenchukskaya.

Citing a document by The Space Review, Space.com reported that the laser system is being developed under project ‘Kalina’ and is designed for "electro-optical warfare". This laser-based weapon reportedly has the power to permanently blind adversary satellites by beaming extremely strong beams of lasers to damage their optical sensors. According to the patent and procurement documents, the laser facility has a separate tracking system and a transmit-receive system, that would allow it to pick up light reflected from its target satellites and aim accurately. 

Is Russia looking for a "soft kill"?

If Russia is building the laser weapon system, its completion would allow Russia to carry out a "soft kill" of satellites without creating chaos in the low-Earth orbit. This might also allow Russia to avoid 'destructive' anti-satellite missile tests, such as the one carried out last November. Meant to destroy a Soviet-era defunct satellite, the test ended up risking the International Space Station and its resident astronauts as the missile created a huge cloud of space debris. 

Several countries, including the US and the UK, condemned Russia's actions, however, Moscow rejected the concerns about the resulting space debris and danger to the lives of the astronauts. Meanwhile, project Kalina is said to have entered the development after many years of prior planning. Notably, targeting satellites might be among Moscow's top priorities, especially considering its frustration with Starlink satellites that are helping Ukraine in information warfare. 

SpaceX's satellite-internet service Starlink was first deployed in Ukraine four months ago and has since attracted lakhs of users in the country. Earlier, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had revealed that Russian hackers carried out many cyberattacks on Starlink since it was the only functional service in the war-ravaged country. He even said that the attempts to hack the Starlink services ramped up in the last few weeks.