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Re:Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its s... by gpm on Wednesday September 14, 2022 @02:05PM (#32840880)
They have directed energy weapons that could probably destroy individual satellites one at a time faster than they could be launched.
Re:Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its s... by closewith on Wednesday September 14, 2022 @02:13PM (#32840990)
Who does? I think there's a [citation needed] for this claim.
Re:Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its s... by gpm on Wednesday September 14, 2022 @02:17PM (#32841053)
China does.

The probably is there for a reason though, the exact extent of their capabilities is unclear.

Here's a citation: https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/chinas-directed-energy-weapo...

Re:Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its s... by closewith on Wednesday September 14, 2022 @02:21PM (#32841115)
That's rumour, not a citation. Maybe I'm wrong and directed energy weapons can destroy thousands of satellites in LEO, but it's never been demonstrated by any nation.
Re:Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its s... by gpm on Wednesday September 14, 2022 @02:27PM (#32841209)
It's a citation that they have them, which is all I claimed definitively. If I could cite the part of the statement after "probably", there wouldn't be a "probably" there.

I would not call it rumors. If you'd like a more authoritative citation, here is a DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency, i.e. US military) report cited in the article I cited above: https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Documents/News/Military_Powe...

Re:Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its s... by jcampbell1 on Wednesday September 14, 2022 @03:38PM (#32842260)
Go read page 24. It doesn’t say what you are claiming.
Re:Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its s... by gpm on Wednesday September 14, 2022 @03:45PM (#32842356)
Page 24 definitely doesn't, it's about Russia. Page 17 on the other hand

> During the past two decades, Chinese defense research has proposed the development of several reversible and nonreversible counterspace DEWs for reversible dazzling of electro-optical sensors and even potentially destroying satellite components. China has multiple ground-based laser weapons of varying power levels to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites that include a current limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors. By the mid- to late-2020s, China may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of nonoptical satellites.

The discussion of current capabilities is primarily about optical satellites (though it can be read to include other components), but it probably applies to giant sensitive phased array antennas too.