Indo-Pacific — 2026-07-10

Russia and China Discussed Plans to Destroy Starlink Satellites and Develop Joint Air Defense System

BLUFDocumented Sino-Russian protocols targeting Starlink and co-developing missile defense mark the partnership's evolution from parallel interests into a joint capability program aimed at US infrastructure.

A joint investigation by The Insider, Der Spiegel, and Le Monde, built on four presentations and a signed working protocol an anonymous source gave Der Spiegel more than a year before publication, reported that Chinese researchers presented Russian counterparts a plan to counter Starlink at a Third China-Russia Military-Technical Cooperation Forum session in Guangzhou in November 2023 1. The Guangzhou presentation, delivered by CASC researchers Huang Hui and Ren Jie, proposed a three-level escalation: diplomatic and legal pressure paired with joint orbital-slot and frequency-band filings, a joint electromagnetic-jamming architecture merging both countries' anti-satellite programs, and cyberattacks on Starlink terminals plus "low-cost" weapons designed to destroy satellites faster than replacements can launch 12. A separate working protocol signed in Moscow on June 5, 2023 by a Chinese delegation led by Colonel Tong Xiaofeng and Russian officials from Rosoboronexport, Almaz-Antey, and NPO Almaz outlined joint development of an integrated air and missile defense system to intercept ballistic and hypersonic missiles at ranges raised to 4,000 kilometers and targets of 25 g lateral acceleration and 40-kilometer intercept altitude, with Russia delivering draft contracts by August 2023 and contract talks slated for Beijing in the fourth quarter 1. At a follow-on forum in Yekaterinburg in December 2024, Chinese researchers proposed exchanging Russian combat data on drone strikes in Ukraine for Chinese AI technology and production capacity 2. A U.S. intelligence official told The Insider that destroying Starlink would degrade counter-drone operations and communications despite available redundancies 1.

Analysis
Sino-Russian cooperation has moved from rhetorical alignment into structured weapons development spanning space, missile defense, and autonomous systems, targeting US-linked infrastructure directly rather than confining itself to conventional arms transfers. Moscow gains defense-industrial depth from the air-defense workstream while Beijing extracts combat-tested drone data absent from its own arsenal, an exchange that undercuts Beijing's public neutrality claim on Ukraine. Sourcing rests on a single primary investigation, with other outlets amplifying rather than independently corroborating, leaving the story effectively single-source despite multi-outlet distribution. The Guangzhou material may instead reflect an internal CASC advocacy pitch rather than adopted bilateral policy, since neither government's formal endorsement of the escalation ladder is evidenced. Western defense planners lack visibility into how far either workstream has progressed since the documents were produced.

4 sources