There have been several reports in Russian state media that the Belarusian military has developed its own satellite internet service, similar to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, called «Kulisa». Belarus does not have its own space program.
There have been several reports in Russian state media that the Belarusian military has developed its own satellite internet service, similar to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, called «Kulisa». Belarus does not have its own space program.
As Ars Technica reports, citing Russian propagandists, the Kulisa mobile communications technology «has already entered service and is being used in military units of the Armed Forces.» And the newspaper Pravda, which began its activities as the official newspaper of the Russian Communist Party more than a century ago, mocked the Starlink developer: «How do you like that, SpaceX?»
This is an interesting example of propaganda, the publication notes, because Belarus, which is subordinate to Russia, does not actually have a space program that would launch rockets or build satellites. Instead, the 15-year-old Belarusian Space Agency sometimes cooperates with Russia and China on various space projects.
In contrast, SpaceX’s Starlink internet constellation consists of more than 7,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit — the result of hundreds of launches — that use sophisticated laser communications and a network of ground stations around the world to provide low-latency broadband internet from space.
The images of the «Kulisa» installation do not appear to be mobile and consist of some box-like hardware. The United24 Media report also shows a regular satellite dish, similar to a DirectTV satellite dish. As Defense Express notes, inside the «Kulisa» case is standard civilian communications equipment, and the only conventionally military component is a hardware-software IP encryption device «Prytok-Sh».
Commercial providers have been offering internet from geostationary satellites since the 1990s, but it has been relatively slow, with high latency due to the distance the signals have to travel (36,000 km) to reach the satellites and return.
Accordingly, the Belarusian counterpart to Starlink seems to be based on outdated technologies from decades ago, which are mostly not adapted to the modern conditions of a mobile military unit. But perhaps for Alexander Lukashenko, the first and only president of Belarus (since 1994), it seems like effective propaganda to declare that his country has its own Starlink.
Starlink is not available in Belarus, but the internet service has been used by the Ukrainian Defense Forces for communications since the Russian invasion in February 2022. This angered Russian officials, who suggested that Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit were «legitimate» military targets.
Recall that last year, the Belarusian military showed Alexander Lukashenko a tactical mobile communications complex (MCC), which he called «a free analogue of Musk», referring to Starlink. This presentation generated a flurry of ridicule in the media, but the Motolko.Help project has understood the technology and believes that it can bring some benefits.
SpaceX recently received a contract with the Pentagon, allowing Ukraine to significantly expand its access to a more secure and militarized version of the Starlink satellite network called Starshield.
