Hide and Starseek
Chinese researchers claim that by using the radiation emitted by SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, they can detect enemy stealth fighter jets.
As the South China Morning Post reports, the team used a DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone as a stand-in for such an aircraft for an experiment. Using a ground-based radar system, the team spotted the tiny drone thanks to the radiation emitted by a Starlink satellite, which was flying over the Philippines at the time.
That’s despite stealth aircraft being designed to be less visible to radar and reflect electromagnetic radiation better thanks to their unusual shapes.
The team claims its new detection method is “unaffected by the target’s three-dimensional shape and surface material,” according to the researchers’ paper published last month in the Journal of Signal Processing, as quoted by the SCMP.
That means the system could “provide significant advantages in detecting small and stealth targets,” in a potential edge for the Chinese military on the battlefield.
Stealth Pack
This idea is that when an aircraft passes between a satellite and an antenna back on the ground, it can scatter the satellite’s electromagnetic waves — ripples that can be picked up by ground-based radar to identify targets.
Thanks to the thousands of Starlink satellites that have been launched by SpaceX so far, scientists are now hoping to use disturbances in the high-frequency radio signals to track stealth aircraft.
It’s a surprising new avenue of research, especially given Chinese animosity towards the Elon Musk-led company’s broadband constellation. Back in 2022, the South China Morning Post reported that Chinese researchers were developing ways to take down Starlink satellites if they were to ever become a threat to national security.
For now, the team has only tested their method on a drone that flew at relatively low altitudes, and it remains to be seen if Starlink radiation could reveal larger and harder-to-spot targets such as stealth aircraft.
Besides, as the SCMP points out, China is already using anti-stealth radar along its coast to identify and track US fighter jets.
But it’s a clever idea nonetheless. Instead of shooting Starlink satellites out of the sky, the constellation could be used to aid the Chinese military instead.
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