European officials believe that two Russian “Inspector” SIGINT spacecraft operating in geostationary orbit have intercepted communications from at least a dozen European satellites. According to the Financial Times , both spacecraft have made “risky close approaches” to some of Europe’s most important satellites, which operate high above Earth and serve not only Europe but also parts of Africa and the Middle East.

The two Russian spacecraft are thought to be associated with the Luch program, with the intercepts taking place at roughly 22,000 miles above the Earth. Russian spacecraft have been shadowing European satellites more intensively over the past three-or-so years following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, and the Luch-1 and Luch-2 craft are known to have carried out several suspicious manoeuvres while in orbit.

Orbital data and ground-based telescopic observations reportedly show that the two craft have lingered nearby for several weeks at a time, with Luch-2 having approached 17 European satellites since its launch in 2023. Both satellites are said to have done “sigint [signals intelligence] business”, said Major General Michael Traut, head of the German military’s space command, in comments to the Financial Times .

Officials are concerned that sensitive information, such as command data for European satellites, is unencrypted and could therefore be intercepted because many were launched decades ago without advanced onboard computers. Once this command data has been recorded, it can potentially be replayed or spoofed later, enabling deliberate interference with things like altitude control, manipulating trajectory, and even causing satellites to crash. Even a limited disruption in geospatial orbit could have outsized effects, because satellites are packed into narrow orbital slots shared by multiple operators.

Aside from this, there is growing concern among European defense officials that activities like these actively blur the lines between intelligence gathering and active interference. Germany’s defense ministry has previously warned that Russian satellites were “shadowing” commercial platforms used by German forces and allies, and that even civilian communications satellites were being used as part of Russia’s military space operations.

Russia has naturally not publicly acknowledged the allegations and has repeatedly described its Inspector satellites as tools for monitoring the health of its own space assets. However, such activity would be decidedly on-brand for a country that continues to bait the West with disinformation bots, cyberattacks, drones, incursions into sovereign waters , and de facto attacks on undersea cables .

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.