A Chinese study has outlined how the nation could jam Starlink access across the entirety of the island of Taiwan. It would require around 1,000 to 2,000 specially adapted electronic warfare drones for this hostile act to pay off, reports the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The research, taken in tandem with recent news about China’s advanced internet cable-cutting capabilities, ratchets geopolitical and world semiconductor ecosystem tensions even higher.
Zhejiang University & Beijing Institute of Technology ran simulations to determine how the CCP-controlled People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could deny their democratic foe’s access to Starlink. Musk’s constellation of 10,000-plus satellites has been a source of consternation among CCP strategists ever since Ukraine effectively made use of it to resist the Russian invaders. Access to tech like Starlink is just one of the speed bumps that have made Putin’s 3-day "Special Operation" extend towards a grueling near-four-year campaign.
1,000 – 2,000 electronic warfare drones
According to the Chinese scientists, the complex, ever-changing satellite mesh networking coverage provided by Starlink could only be countered by a broad distributed jamming strategy. “Hundreds or thousands of small, synchronized jammers would need to be deployed across the sky – on drones, balloons or aircraft – forming an electromagnetic shield over the battlefield,” reports the SCMP.
To reach their unhappy-for-the-PLA conclusion, the scientists used actual Starlink data to create a simulated dynamic satellite mesh the size of Taiwan over 12 hours. A mix of wide and narrow-beam electronic noise-generating jammers featured in the test simulation. Airborne Chinese jammers, situated around 3 to 6 miles apart from each other, could form an effective 12-mile-high internet blocking mesh, it is now thought.
Under ideal conditions, a successful Chinese Starlink blockade would require 935 coordinated interference nodes, suggests the research. With cheaper, more practical, lower-power drones, the number of airborne interferers would have to be scaled up to approximately 2,000 drones.
Taiwan’s drone defenses
Of course, hostile blanket drone coverage wouldn’t exist unopposed in Taiwan’s skies. The home of computer and semiconductor giants like TSMC, Asus, and MediaTek has been investing in both foreign-bought and domestically produced drone and anti-drone military equipment.
The ambitious and industrious Silicon Island (and aspiring 'AI island') might even be considering its own Iron Dome-inspired protective network, no doubt further infuriating its neighbor.
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