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Russia is busy developing its own version of Starlink to provide connectivity to the country's most remote areas, including its Arctic regions. Russia's Skif constellation was unveiled in November 2022. It is composed of a network of 640 satellites that should provide broadband internet services by 2025. As regards the civil telecommunications sector, Russia has deployed Gonets, a low Earth orbit satellite system that is fully operational. In October 2022 the first medium Earth orbit (MEO) prototype

'Skif-D' was launched together with three new Gonets satellites, reaching an altitude of approximately 8,000 kilometers. In 2021, China also announced it would challenge Starlink leadership by launching a mega-constellation of 12,992 satellites. Guowang (GW), the name by which the network goes, is still to set a date for its first launch, but the goal is to exceed the total number of SpaceX's satellites by 2027.

Boeing, the US company that has been building civil and military aircraft for over a century, has announced its plans to enter the broadband internet market with its own constellation by 2030. Boeing was already given a license to launch satellites on less-crowded orbits: at altitudes of approx. 1,000, 27,000 and 44,000 kilometers, to provide ultra-fast connectivity services over the US territory.

SpaceX still leads the industry: on February 28, the company launched its first new-generation satellites, bringing the Starlink family to a total of 3,704 units. Meanwhile, Musk, who seems to be always one step ahead of his competitors, announced last December that he's developing a new satellite fleet: Starshield. "While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for Government use, and is aimed to enhance national security," the company wrote on its website. Using next-generation Starlink satellites, the 'Starshield' network will incorporate "additional high-assurance cryptographic capability " to meet high government security standards. Starshield initially will focus on three areas: Earth observation, encrypted communications, and transportation of third-party payloads into space. The constellation will have another key feature: the “inter-satellite laser communications” link to connect to other companies' satellites.

The Starshield network seems to match the requirements of the new Space-BACN security program wanted by DARPA ( Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). DARPA is a US Government agency engaged in the development of military technologies. It is determined to exploit the full potential of laser technology in order to allow continuous communication between different satellite constellations thus making eavesdropping more difficult and boost confidentiality. The Space-Based Adaptive Communication Node will enable satellites to be equipped with laser transceivers capable of communicating with each other with a link range up to 5,000 kilometers. In the coming months, Darpa will select the best technologies for a first low Earth orbit (LEO) test to be carried out by 2025.