Trouble for Elon Musk as China displays 'anti-Starlink’ radar SLC-18P at Zhuhai airshow?

Elon Musk's Starlink satellites have played a crucial role in the Russia-Ukraine war, granting Ukrainian forces crucial information about Russian troop movement. This has given a tactical advantage to the Ukrainians and raised a new question in the minds of military planners. What is the impact of commercial private space technology getting involved in a battle between two nations and how can a nation neutralise such threats - this is the question that many military planners are attempting to answer. 

China seems to have an answer, it displayed the SLC-18P radar at the Zhuhai airshow and Chinese Weibo users calling it the "anti-Starlink radar" and warning Elon Musk. According to a report from the EurAsian Times, the radar is designed for space target surveillance, and it can target Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. Low Earth Orbit means 500 km - 2,000 km from the surface of earth, and this is the radius within which the Starlink satellites operate. 

China considers Starlink satellites a threat

Elon Musk is quite popular in China, as he avoids criticising the Chinese regime in any form and has a big factory in Shanghai for manufacturing Tesla EVs. However, since Musk started collaborating with the US Department of Defense, his popularity in the nation has gone down. In 2020, Musk started working with the Department of Defense to build a new technology which is capable of tracking hypersonic missiles. Musk also came under fire in 2021, when two Starlink satellites came close to China's space station. Chinese researchers reportedly believe that Musk's Starlink satellites pose a threat to China's national security and China needs to develop capabilities to neutralise those satellites. 

The "anti-starlink radar" has been reportedly developed by the 14th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation. China Electronics Technology Group Corporation is the same corporation that developed China's radar industry. The SLC-18P unveiled at the Zhuhai airshow claims to be capable of carrying out complete surveillance of space targets. It uses an all-solid-state active phased array system, which makes it capable of multi-target capability, as per the EurAsian Times report. Space is slowly turning into the 4th theatre of war, the first three being - land, air, water.