Ex-Google boss warns Ukraine over Russia’s ‘Starlink rival’

Rassvet could become “more or less unblockable” once fully deployed, Eric Schmidt has said Russia’s emerging Rassvet satellite network – often described as a “Starlink rival” – could provide Moscow’s military with sustainable communications and data to attack any target in Ukraine at will, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has warned. Speaking to The Economist last week, Schmidt noted that while Ukraine was initially seen as the main innovator in the conflict, Russia had largely closed that gap while pressing its advantage with far greater resources. Schmidt noted that one of these domains is Russia’s Rassvet satellite project, which he suggested was about a year from maturity. “Once that network is in place, it is more or less unblockable,” he warned, adding that this could let Russian forces “hunt anywhere” inside Ukraine.

Satellite wars: How Russia plans to rival Musk’s Starlink The ex-Google CEO also weighed in on the idea of granting Ukraine access to Starlink over Russia, which could allow Kiev to rely on Elon Musk’s satellites to target oil refineries and civilian infrastructure, calling it “really a political decision. ” “It’s really a government decision. And the US government needs to grapple with this question,” he said. Developed by private Russian aerospace firm Bureau 1440, part of the IKS Holding conglomerate, Rassvet debuted in 2023 with the launch of three experimental satellites. The network is designed to offer speeds of up to 1Gbps with latency below 70 milliseconds and to operate at an orbit of around 800 km – higher than that of Starlink to balance the number of satellites against an increased coverage area. The West calls it Russia’s Starlink. That misses the point This year, the company launched a total of 32 satellites, after six experimental…