Luch-Olymp Russian Military satellite

[Flyaway]

The French defence minister has accused Russia of attempting to intercept France’s satellite communications, calling it an act of espionage.

Florence Parly said Russia tried to intercept transmissions and spy on a satellite providing secure communications for the French military last year.

In a speech outlining France’s space policy and security issues, Parly said that the Athena-Fidus satellite, operated jointly by France and Italy, was approached “a bit too closely” by Russia’s Luch-Olymp craft, known for its advanced listening capacity.

“It got so close that we might have imagined it was trying to intercept our communications,” she added. “Trying to listen to your neighbours is not only unfriendly, it’s an act of espionage.”

Parly said officials took the “appropriate measures” and continued to monitor the satellite after it left, and observed it manoeuvring near other targets as well, she said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/07/france-accuses-russia-spying-satellite-communications-espionage

 

[Flyaway]

Here’s the BBC article on the same story this is an interesting bit from it.

Ms Parly said France was still monitoring the Luch-Olymp "and we noted that it continued to move actively in the following months close to other targets".
It is the same type of Russian satellite as that which approached the US satellites in 2015, but may not be the exact same one.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45448261

 

[gwiz]

This satellite was launched in September 2014 and has manoeuvred extensively in geostationary orbit. It was in the vicinity of Athena-Fidus from October last year until January. It appears to be still operational, with the most recent manoeuvre in June-July. The behaviour certainly suggests that it is shadowing other communications satellites to listen in on their traffic. The US military has operated a system called Nemesis from 2009 with a similar mission, and the Chinese Shi Jian 17 satellite launched in 2016 may also be for this purpose.

 

[blackstar]

This satellite was launched in September 2014 and has manoeuvred extensively in geostationary orbit. It was in the vicinity of Athena-Fidus from October last year until January. It appears to be still operational, with the most recent manoeuvre in June-July. The behaviour certainly suggests that it is shadowing other communications satellites to listen in on their traffic. The US military has operated a system called Nemesis from 2009 with a similar mission, and the Chinese Shi Jian 17 satellite launched in 2016 may also be for this purpose.

I have heard rumors that this Russian capability was assumed by western intelligence analysts to date from at least the mid-1990s.

 

[Flyaway]

Jonathan McDonell tweeted on this topic a little while back with additional information:
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1038147610073341953

 

[Grey Havoc]

Luch satellite

History of the Luch satellite project by Anatoly Zak

www.russianspaceweb.com

 

[kocovgoce]

This satellite was launched in September 2014 and has manoeuvred extensively in geostationary orbit. It was in the vicinity of Athena-Fidus from October last year until January. It appears to be still operational, with the most recent manoeuvre in June-July. The behaviour certainly suggests that it is shadowing other communications satellites to listen in on their traffic. The US military has operated a system called Nemesis from 2009 with a similar mission, and the Chinese Shi Jian 17 satellite launched in 2016 may also be for this purpose.

I have heard rumors that this Russian capability was assumed by western intelligence analysts to date from at least the mid-1990s.

Yes, these satellites have been launched since 1995.Maybe that was way they found the codes for the French cruise missiles and that is why they were so disabled in the war with Syria

 

[Flyaway]

After spending nearly four months at 2.6°E (right next to Eutelsat Konner VHTS), Luch-5X has relocated to 4.6°E. This is close to Astra 4A, which is at 4.8°E. Astra 4A (launched as Sirius 4 back in 2007) provides digital television and radio broadcasts, data and interactive services to Nordic countries, Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. An important customer is Ukraine.

The relocation comes as Ukrainian broadcasters reported jamming of some of the Astra A4 signals last Thursday.

News from Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and the former USSR region | Belsat

News about Eastern Europe. Belsat, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia. Most important news.

belsat.eu

https://twitter.com/x/status/1779268451032236246

https://twitter.com/x/status/1780590277519929573

View: https://twitter.com/MrKovalenko/status/1780590277519929573