Chinese scientists have learned to use the Starlink satellite network to detect stealth aircraft and other stealthy flying objects, such as drones. To do this, it was not necessary to create complex and expensive systems – the device was assembled from what can be bought in a regular electronics store. Now the expensive and technologically advanced F-35 stealth fighters can be detected using simple homemade equipment.
Image source: Starlink
It has long been known that signals from Wi-Fi routers can be used to detect the presence of people in a room. Something similar became possible thanks to the Starlink satellite network, only on a global level. The satellites, numbering about 7,000, in low orbit continuously transmit high-frequency radio signals to Earth, creating a kind of “rain” of radio waves. Under this “flow”, any aircraft will distort the signal.
This is reminiscent of radar – each target has its own effective dispersion area in the radio range (in English literature – radar cross section), which gives an idea of the observed object. However, unlike military radars, in this case no active radiation is required in the direction of the target. You only need to passively receive signals from Starlink satellites, which makes this method of radio reconnaissance especially attractive. The data stream from Starlink doesn’t even need to be decrypted – just analyze the interference, and using (secret) algorithms you can reconstruct the target’s profile.
According to the South China Morning Post, an experiment with the detection of a stealthy aerial object was carried out in the South China Sea area. The object used was a DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone, approximately the size of a bird (35 cm across). American stealth aircraft have approximately the same effective dispersion area. Based on the analysis of Starlink signals, Chinese scientists, using homemade equipment, were able to reconstruct an image of the object down to identifying the rotation of the propellers. Although the technology is still under development, its prospects are impressive. Now it’s either satellite communications in the theater of operations or stealth.