Starlink: Threat or Opportunity for Indian National Security?

Elon Musk is undoubtedly a genius and a man whom I greatly admire. Out-of-the-box and visionary are two words that can easily be used without any accusation of hyperbolic being attached to it. He has visualised several things and made entrepreneurial success unheralded in this generation! Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink, Hyperloop, etc., are all revolutionary disruptors that have hugely contributed to society and expanded humanity’s imagination.

Having gotten all that off my chest, I must express my concerns as a student of national security. The news about Starlink, a wholly owned LLC (Limited liability company) of Space X, entering the Indian market worries me. It fills my mind with a sense of foreboding. Here is why I am concerned:

– It bypasses the control that the Indian ISP exercises. The state carries out oversight through this control.
– Creates dependencies where Internet coverage does not exist.
– No domestic company can compete on equal footing as Space X provides the cheapest means of satellite deployment.
– The Starlink series of satellites have military uses. It can easily create a transparent battlefield environment and enhance military data transmission abilities.
– It vastly enhances the reconnaissance capabilities of the US military over India.
– It also enables strategic intelligence support capabilities that can be weaponised.

Elon Musk is on record saying, “In the long run, we plan to rebuild the internet in space.” This statement carries significant implications for India’s national sovereignty. It takes away the limited control India exerts on its cyberspace. This control relies on its terrestrial ISP to monitor data flows and in case of emergencies cut-off internet. It would move to a global entity in outer space, that is not under sovereign jurisdiction .

As of 2024, Starlink has provided internet access services to over 4 million subscribers. Starlink plans to capture a $1 trillion global internet service market. The company plans to add 30,000 satellites to the 12,000 already approved. This would build a massive constellation of 42,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, significantly altering the global internet landscape.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) also has plans to use low-earth orbit satellites. They aim to create an automated mission management system called Blackjack. Blackjack has the potential to enhance reconnaissance capability and strengthen cross-domain long-range precision strike capabilities.

In December 2022, Starlink officially launched the military satellite project ‘StarShield.’This will primarily serve the US government. This includes the Department of Defense and various intelligence agencies. There are at present three main components to the StarShield project:

The upgraded StarShield is larger in size and capable of carrying various functional payloads focused on the military sector.

Space X has placed StarShield at the center of its end-to-end product offerings. It focuses on national security and data confidentiality. They build on the data encryption already used by the Starlink system. StarShield includes additional high-assurance encryption features to host military payloads, ensuring secure handling and transmission of classified data. On the surface, Starlink is for commercial use, and StarShield is for military purposes. In reality, inter-satellite laser communication links allow StarShield and Starlink to connect. They network and become ‘partner satellites.’ From a military perspective, mixed civil-military deployment significantly reduces development costs while achieving effective concealment and deception.

Many dismiss all these as a natural progression in the Indo-US strategic partnership. Others feel that India and the US are natural allies, a logical progression after foundational agreements like COMCASA. Ignoring or ignorant about the underlying reasons why India has sought strategic autonomy.

Recent happenings in South Asia, especially in Bangladesh, highlight that Indian and US aims significantly vary in India’s immediate neighborhood. This has adversely impacted India’s security environment and highlighted the contradictions in the national aims of India and the US.

India consistently tops the list of nations that cut off the internet to quell law and order issues. The social cohesion of its extremely varied population had been exploited and exacerbated during its long colonial rule. This remains its strategic vulnerability. Sovereign control over its networks and data is one of the ways to prevent its future exploitation. Sadly, Starlink undermines this. As a wise strategy, India has to ensure control over its core ICT networks. As a continental sized nation, it is too large to rise without upsetting the global order. India will have to build its low-earth orbit satellite constellations and cannot permit others to control its ICT networks.