The Ministry of Defense reported that Russia is testing its own Starlink analogue and has launched the first satellites into orbit

The Advisor to the Minister of Defense Serhiy "Flash" Beskrestnov reported that Russia is testing its own Starlink analogue of the "Bureau 1440" project and has launched the first satellites into orbit.

He wrote about this on Facebook.

According to him, there are currently 16 “Rassvet” satellites in orbit, operating in test mode, but at least 200-250 are needed for stable data transmission. Flesch added that Russia plans to launch another 300 satellites in the coming years, and then another 700.

The defense ministerʼs advisor claims that theoretically the Russian Federation could use the satellites for military purposes, as they fly over Ukraine about once a day. He also said that the Russians could theoretically attach them to the “Shaheds” to plan an attack, but that this is currently difficult to do because there are few satellites in orbit.

• Starlink is not officially operational in Russia, but the Russian military has used its terminals to launch drones over Ukraine. These devices enter the Russian Federation via third countries.
• At the end of January, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense turned to SpaceX to solve the problem of using Starlink on Russian drones. Starlink verification was launched in Ukraine on February 2. The Advisor to the Minister of Defense Serhiy Beskrestnov wrote that due to the blocking of Russian terminals, all control of the Russian troops collapsed, and assaults stopped in many areas.
• In response, the Russian authorities at the end of April introduced a ban on the import of foreign satellite communication devices, which also includes Starlink terminals.

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