Rassvet

Rassvet is a Russian low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation intended to give Moscow a sovereign broadband datalink for its drones, cruise missiles and reconnaissance platforms. Development is led by Russian aerospace company Bureau 1440; the launches are carried out on Soyuz-2.1b rockets built by Progress Rocket Space Center in Samara. The first batch of sixteen satellites went up in March 2026, with a second batch following in July. Ukrainian presidential adviser Sergey Beskrestnov, better known by the callsign Flash, has said that around forty satellites were in orbit by October 2026; Russian plans cited by Ukrainian channels envisage a constellation of 292 by 2027 and 924 by 2035.

The system’s military value lies in untying Russian guided weapons from the terrestrial command links that Ukrainian electronic warfare has become adept at suppressing. Beskrestnov told the Associated Press that current Russian satellites give commanders only intermittent windows of thirty to forty minutes over Ukraine as individual spacecraft pass overhead. He said that once the constellation reaches full density — which he placed about six months away — Russian operators could steer Geran one-way attack drones, reconnaissance UAVs and lower-cost cruise missiles such as the Bandrol and Dan-M in real time, and that Ukrainian jammers would in that scenario be rendered largely ineffective. Ukrainian officials have also claimed that the chosen operating band overlaps substantially with the US Iridium network, which, if accurate, would complicate any NATO decision to disrupt it electronically.

Early operational use has been reported by Russian milbloggers. The UAVDEV channel in mid-October described Rassvet terminals being fitted to Molniya loitering munitions, prompting debate among Russian commentators about whether the terminals — described as expensive — would be better placed on harder-to-intercept platforms such as Dan-T or Geran-based cruise variants, both to improve the exchange rate and to test the link under more demanding profiles. Russian channels including Rybar frame Rassvet as the strategic answer to Starlink, which they credit as the single most important enabler of Ukrainian long-range drone operations.

The programme has already drawn direct Ukrainian action. On 15 August 2026 Ukrainian forces struck the Progress Rocket Space Center with FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, a strike Ukrainian outlets described as an attempt to slow the Rassvet launch schedule. Russian defence commentary has publicly characterised the constellation as a national priority to be delivered “at any cost”.