National Security and Space Weapons

Two NATO‑nation intelligence services have shared findings with the Associated Press indicating Russia is developing a 'zone‑effect' anti‑satellite weapon designed to release dense clouds of high‑velocity pellets into Starlink orbits, potentially disabling multiple satellites at once and undermining Western space support to Ukraine. Analysts and allied space officials warn that such a system would risk uncontrollable collateral damage to thousands of satellites used by the U.S., Russia, China and others, raising doubts about whether Moscow would ultimately deploy it even as Russia increasingly casts commercial systems like Starlink as legitimate military targets.