What is Russia’s Kalinka monitoring system, making Elon Musk, Ukraine wary?

Russia’s new Kalinka monitoring system could be a nightmare for both Elon Musk and Ukraine.

The system is designed to detect enemy drones as well as locate signals from satellite systems like Starlink.

The Starlink system designed by the Elon Musk company SpaceX has played a critical role in Ukraine’s defences during the war with Russia.

But what do we know about the Kalinka monitoring system – known as the ‘Starlink killer?’

Let’s take a closer look:

What is Kalinka?

As per NDTV, the Kalinka system was developed by Russia’s Center for Unmanned Systems and Technologies (CBST).

The Kalinka system was backed by country’s United Russia party.

The CBST comprises over 200 firms specialising in defence and national security technologies.

CBST chairman Andrey Bezrukov has claimed that the system is currently undergoing testing in Ukraine .

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Bezrukov said it can spot aerial and maritime drones up to 15 kilometres away.

He said Kalinka will be able to help Russia ’s military pinpoint Starlink terminals.

Eurasian Times reported that Kalkinka can locate terminals that are both fixed and moving.

Kalinka is being installed in jet skis, boats, and helicopters.

Bezrukov also displayed an updated version of a jet ski armed with a turret and large-calibre machine gun to increase the efficiency of the Kalinka system in targeting unmanned vessels.

Bezrukov said Kalinka can even direct communication terminals from Starshield – a militarised version of Starlink.

This is because “the basic principles of radio signal transmission have not changed since the invention of the radio,” he added.

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Bezrukov said this will help Russia unmanned boats and the “Baba Yaga” drones.

Its range depends on the terrain the system is being used to scan as well as the electronic devices being used by the enemy, Bezrukov added.

As per Eurasian Times, Kalinka is already being produced on a small scale.

NDTV quoted Bezrukov as saying mass production would be contingent on the demand from Russian forces.

A brief look at Starlink

Starlink is a satellite-based internet service provider.

It is an arm Musk’s SpaceX.

The Musk-led rocket maker operates the largest constellation of communication satellites and provides internet connectivity to residential and business customers, largely in locations with limited or no access to the internet.

“Starlink is ideally suited for areas where connectivity has been unreliable or completely unavailable,” its website states. “People across the globe are using Starlink to gain access to education, health services and even communications support during natural disasters.”

Over the past few years, Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has sought to expand Starlink’s coverage to reach more users worldwide.

Starlink owns around 60 per cent of the roughly 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth and is a dominant player in satellite internet.

The thousands of Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit use inter-satellite laser links to pass data between one another in space at the speed of light, allowing the network to offer internet coverage around the world.

Starlink terminals were rushed in to help Ukraine after Russia’s February 2022 invasion and have been vital to Kyiv’s battlefield communications. Starlink says it does not do business of any kind with Russia’s government or military.

In 2022, Musk declined a request to activate Starlink in the Crimean city of Sevastopol to support a Ukrainian assault on Russia’s naval fleet, stating that doing so would have made SpaceX “explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”

With inputs from agencies