Russia plans to launch its smaller version of Starlink next year

Russia plans to launch its own, smaller version of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite broadband system next year, Alexei Shelobkov, CEO of Iks Holding, the company developing the service, said on Friday.

"The good ‌news is ⁠that ⁠it is already being created. Satellites are already being ​launched. In the coming weeks, we will begin testing, and ​as promised, it will start operating commercially in 2027," Shelobkov told a panel discussion at the ​St. Petersburg Economic Forum.

Successful Ukrainian ⁠drone attacks ‌on Russian refineries and other ​industrial sites ​in recent months have been linked ⁠by some military experts in part to ​the ability of the latest generation of ​AI-powered Ukrainian drones to connect to SpaceX's Starlink network, which is more resilient to jamming.


Ukraine said in January that Russia was using Starlink terminals to guide its drones into Ukrainian ‌territory and that it was working with SpaceX to stop this.

The company Bureau ​1440, part ​of Iks ⁠Holding, said in March that it had launched its first 16 low-orbit Rassvet satellites, aiming to increase their ​number to 900 over several years. SpaceX currently has over 10,000 satellites in orbit. Starlink is banned in Russia, and the use of its equipment is subject to fines.