VLADIMIR Putin is developing a terrifying new weapon designed strike Elon Musk’s Starlink system, according to Nato intelligence.
The Russian president’s so-called “zone-effect” missiles have been especially crafted to overwhelm the Tesla boss’s high-tech internet constellation.
In practice, the weapon would spray a wave of high-density pellets towards Starlink orbits, which contain clusters of satellites vital to keeping Musk’s internet system alive.
Starlink currently poses a huge threat to Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine.
For nearly four years, Musk’s army of low-orbiting satellites have been crucial for Ukraine’s survival against Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainian forces have been relying on Starlink’s high-speed internet service for battlefield communications.
They also use the system for targeting weapons – alongside a host of other roles vital to keeping the country connected.
The Kremlin has repeatedly warned that commercial satellites serving Ukraine’s military could become legitimate targets of their invasion.
In December, Russia said it had deployed a new ground-based missile system, the S-500, which is capable of hitting low-orbit targets.
But in any case, the new weapon in development would target multiple Starlinks at once.
The heavy pellets will potentially be released by new formations of small satellites, according to the Nato intelligence.
Not only will they pack a huge punch by tearing through Starlink satellites – but they will also be just millimetres wide.
Their tiny size will help them evade detection by ground and space-based systems that scan for extraterrestrial objects.
This aspect could make it especially hard to pin blame for any attack on Moscow, the intelligence warns.
But experts have highlighted the severe risks Russia would be taking if they ever launched such a weapon.
Falling pellets and debris could accidentally strike many other satellite orbits caught in the crossfire.
Although Starlink’s orbits are about 550 kilometers above the planet, China’s Tiangong space station and the International Space Station operate at lower orbits.
These systems alongside others would face significant dangers that Moscow may not be willing to risk.
Experts have therefore cast doubt over the mind-blowing new weapon due to the huge potential for uncontrollable space mayhem.
Space-security expert Victoria Samson told Associated Press: “I don’t buy it. Like, I really don’t.
“I would be very surprised, frankly, if they were to do something like that.”
But Canadian military’s Space Division commander, Brig. Gen. Christopher Horner said it was important not to rule out such a threat.
“If the reporting on the nuclear weapons system is accurate and that they’re willing to develop that and willing to go to that end, well it wouldn’t strike me as shocking that something just short of that, but equally damaging, is within their wheelhouse of development,” he said.
It comes after a top neuroscientist warned “brain weapons” that wipe memories and incapacitate troops could unleashed by Putin’s army.
Professor Malcolm Dando suggested implanting misinformation to bend perception may no longer be confined to science fiction and could soon be a conceivable reality.
He said one Ukrainian toxicologist suggested a new threat could be the result of a perfect storm: the combined advances in neuroscience, pharmacology, and artificial intelligence.
