Russian forces thrown into communications chaos after Starlink cutoff

midian182

midian182

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Winners & losers: Russia's military is frantically trying to fill communication gaps on the front line after losing access to Starlink services. Ukraine has long said that the company's terminals were being used illicitly by Russian troops, but these were deactivated following talks between the country's defense minister and Elon Musk last month.

Ukraine's military intelligence first accused Russian forces in occupied territories of using Starlink terminals back in February 2024.

September that same year saw reports that Russian drones were actively using Starlink hardware for "unlimited" communication over Ukraine's territory.

The Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Agency (GUR) released a 12-second audio clip that the agency said was an intercepted exchange of two Russian soldiers discussing setting up the Starlink terminals. But Elon Musk denied the claims at the time, stating that "To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia."

Russian forces had become dependent on the thousands of Starlink terminals smuggled into Russia via the black market in Central Asia. It allowed them to keep units connected along the frontline while coordinating troop movements and drone strikes.

Ukraine officials say Russia is already feeling the impact of losing Starlink, especially in relation to its drones.

Musk posted about the block on X. "Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorised use of Starlink by Russia have worked," he wrote.

A whitelist system has now been introduced that allows only verified Starlink terminals to connect to the network, preventing those believed to be in Russian hands from accessing the service.

The Kyiv Post writes that the move has led to anger among pro-war Russian military bloggers, some of whom are blaming high-level officers for not anticipating the issue.

"What everyone feared for a long time has happened," wrote Crimea-based video blogger Yuriy Podolyaka on Telegram, where he has almost 3 million followers. "Elon Musk flipped the switch … our communications are in chaos."

Russia does have alternatives such as fibre-optic lines, wifi-based radio bridges or digital radio modems, but nothing that matches the speed and convenience of Starlink. The country's own satellite communication service, run by Gazprom Space Systems, has only a small number of geostationary satellites.

The Guardian reports that to circumvent the whitelisting, Russian forces are placing advertisements for intermediaries and civilians inside Ukraine who are prepared to register terminals in their own names.

"For the enemy, Starlink is so important that they are trying to build an entire network of people willing to register terminals for them," Ukraine's defence ministry said on Telegram.

Intelligence services from two NATO countries said in December that Russia is developing a new type of anti-satellite weapon designed to disrupt Elon Musk's Starlink constellation by generating destructive clouds of shrapnel in low Earth orbit.

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Russian forces thrown into communications chaos after Starlink cutoff

 
It might be useful for Starlink to find out who is registering for these terminals and then giving them to the Russians. That way, Ukrainian forces can personally call round and say thank you in their own way before shutting off the terminal.
 
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It amazes me how much all militaries (US, Russia, Ukraine, etc.) have come to rely on Starlink. It is an amazing technology and truly does bring high speed internet literally anywhere. However, it is under the thumb of one of the most unstable men in the world who is known to randomly change his allegiance on a whim.
 
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Dr Roboto said:
It amazes me how much all militaries (US, Russia, Ukraine, etc.) have come to rely on Starlink. It is an amazing technology and truly does bring high speed internet literally anywhere. However, it is under the thumb of one of the most unstable men in the world who is known to randomly change his allegiance on a whim.
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If you look up the unclassified specs of US Military radios, they are capable of IP communications between them, and really don't need Starlink, IMO. The use of Starlink, IMO, appears to be a recent, and unnecessary, decision by Jar-Heads that only benefits, in the long run, Starlink and fElon's wallet.

For the US, IMO, its a decision that needs to be reviewed by someone, preferably a third-party, if there is still anyone, that knows what they are doing.
 
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wiyosaya said:
If you look up the unclassified specs of US Military radios, they are capable of IP communications between them, and really don't need Starlink, IMO. The use of Starlink, IMO, appears to be a recent, and unnecessary, decision by Jar-Heads that only benefits, in the long run, Starlink and fElon's wallet.

For the US, IMO, its a decision that needs to be reviewed by someone, preferably a third-party, if there is still anyone, that knows what they are doing.
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Not quite.

The reason starlink works well is because it's low earth orbit and therefore low latency, and latency is super important when you're flying a drone into a tank.

Further out satellite would have much higher latency. It's just that simple.


Side note, I think Techspot muct be trying to boost engagement today because they put out an article about ICE, then Trump, and then Russia... all one after another. Don't take the bait.
 
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Kirby1 said:
Not quite.

The reason starlink works well is because it's low earth orbit and therefore low latency, and latency is super important when you're flying a drone into a tank.

Further out satellite would have much higher latency. It's just that simple.
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I think whyosaya was implying that the radios themselves set up an on the fly network between themselves to provide longer range communication. I guess doing it this way would add delays plus you wouldn't have any of your radios deep in enemy territory to provide a relay.

The real problem with Starlink, and indeed any satellite in LEO, is they can all be taken out by setting off explosions in LEO that cause a chain effect knocking out all the satellites in LEO.
 
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mbk34 said:
I think whyosaya was implying that the radios themselves set up an on the fly network between themselves to provide longer range communication. I guess doing it this way would add delays plus you wouldn't have any of your radios deep in enemy territory to provide a relay.

The real problem with Starlink, and indeed any satellite in LEO, is they can all be taken out by setting off explosions in LEO that cause a chain effect knocking out all the satellites in LEO.
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Still not really the issue. The capability of military satellite is irrelevant. They are to far away for remote control of small drones.

The whole reason starlink exists is to solve the latency issues that further out satellites have.

And no, blowing up a few would not bring down the network, at least not quickly and therefore not in a way that is tactically useful to a state like Russia.
 
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Kirby1 said:
Clearly another Russian bot. This article doesn't even mention troops or deaths, but bots don't read; they just spew out BS.

Sad that Techspot won't remove these accounts that are clearly just here to post Russian propaganda.
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And then come bots prolific in posting personal attacks. How come Techspot doesn't delete those? @Kirby1 feel free to delete yourself.
 
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VitalyT said:
More fake news from Ukrainians about the demise of Russian troops - for the gullible masses.
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How dare you insinuate that Ukraine, ran by Thiefensky (of the usual tribe) would lie? They'll be in Moscow in 3 weeks, since 2014.
 
Question: Why would Russia use Starlink?? They have their own GLONASS system for a number of years now and according to Wiki it's as capable and secure.


GLONASS
 
Che Cazzo said:
Question: Why would Russia use Starlink?? They have their own GLONASS system for a number of years now and according to Wiki it's as capable and secure.


GLONASS
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GLONASS is a navigation system and that is all it does. Russians were using Starlink for communications with their front lines and for command/control of their drones. US drones and other weapon systems don't rely on GPS exclusively because GPS can be easily jammed or spoofed, this is why the Russians are using Starlink because they need the redundancy. A GPS only system would be a single point of failure rendering the system useless if GPS is jammed or spoofed.
 
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Kirby1 said:
Still not really the issue. The capability of military satellite is irrelevant. They are to far away for remote control of small drones.
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Put those IP radios that I'm talking about in a small drone, and you have battlefield control of those small drones - to the horizon, at least. Those radios are capable of ad-hoc networks, and in certain cases, would negate the need for something like Starlink. Not to mention, the networks can be encrypted.
Kirby1 said:
And no, blowing up a few would not bring down the network, at least not quickly and therefore not in a way that is tactically useful to a state like Russia.
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And they would be attacking part of their own network - thus shooting themselves in their own foot. Stupid, IMO, even if it were practical.
 
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emmzo said:
Can the Russians be that stupid to rely on enemy tech for communication? Or is it just for long range drones?
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Their version was supposed to be ready few years ago, a Russia-link on a budget. But no sats were put in the orbit yet.
 
Kirby1 said:
Still not really the issue. The capability of military satellite is irrelevant. They are to far away for remote control of small drones.
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I don't think anyone is talking about using military satellites. We were talking about using military radios, the type held by a soldier, that can form their own mesh network on the ground. Starlink satellites in LEO are being used to pilot sea drones but I suspect the hardware is too heavy for standard aerial drones.

Kirby1 said:
And no, blowing up a few would not bring down the network, at least not quickly and therefore not in a way that is tactically useful to a state like Russia.
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It's not a question of hitting a couple of Starlink satellites, you only have to go into low earth orbit and set of an explosion with lots of "bits". Those bits will hit random satellites which will cause them to break apart. Those bits go on to hit other satellites in LEO on so on until everything in LEO is hit. It's called the Kessler Syndrome. It will probably happen accidentally in the next 20 years but it can be caused deliberately quite easily by any nation with a rocket, an explosive and a large bag of ball bearings.
 
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Liranan said:
Ukraine says, HAHAHAHA. Give Ukraine more money so that Thiefensky can buy his wife more diamonds and another mining conglomerate.
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You do realise that the facebook post about Zalesky and Northam Platinum Holdings Limited was shown to be fake and removed?

You do understand that Russia has lost a third of its navy, including its flagship, to a country with no navy? That it lost a third of its nuclear bombers, worth $40b, in a single drone attack. Russia has also lost $140b in frozen Russian assets. Russia's casualty rate has also gone over 1000/day and has so far lost more soldiers in Ukraine than it has in every war it's fought since WWII. Are you just typing to pass the time before being called up?
 
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Ridiculous article - Russia already KILLED Starlink in Iran.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdof...tch-russian-tech-shuts-down-starlink-in-iran/

What this means is that Ukraine (NATO) communications can be shut down whenever Russia decides to do so. Meanwhile Russia (and Iran) have their own indigenous communications which cannot be shut down by Nato.

Unfortunately, Russia was forced to reveal this technology in order to help Iran during the CIA backed riots. But Russia has more stuff up its sleeve. China and Russia are collaborating on battlefield tech. You better believe China has first rate communications tech.
 
mbk34 said:
You do understand that Russia has lost a third of its navy, including its flagship, to a country with no navy? That it lost a third of its nuclear bombers, worth $40b, in a single drone attack. Russia has also lost $140b in frozen Russian assets. Russia's casualty rate has also gone over 1000/day and has so far lost more soldiers in Ukraine than it has in every war it's fought since WWII. Are you just typing to pass the time before being called up?
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Not correct - The official Russian government casualty figures are over 2 million dead Ukrainians and approximately 150,000 Russians. Your stats are the typical Western figures drawn from Ukrainian propaganda.

There is literally NO WAY that Russian casualties are higher than Ukrainian casualties. Remember that Russia has always had OVERWHELMING superiority in artillery, aircraft, tanks, drones, and manpower. Russia makes extensive use of FABs to take out hardened Ukrainian positions. Russia has been CRUSHING Ukraine with wave after wave of drone and hypersonic missile attacks. Who dies in those attacks? Not Russians.

********

Regarding the Russian Navy. It's true that Ukraine damaged Russia's Black Sea Fleet, mainly with naval drones. It should be mentioned that Iran has the same naval drone tech and could easily use it against the US carriers should Trump decide to start WW3.

But the Russian Navy is FAR larger than simply the contingent at Crimea. Their submarine fleet alone is gigantic.

Russia:
Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBNs): 16
Nuclear-Powered attack submarines (SSNs): 14
Nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines (SSGNs): 11
Diesel-electric attack submarines (SSKs): 23

USA:
Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBNs): 14
Nuclear-Powered attack submarines (SSNs): 50
Nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines (SSGNs): 4
Diesel-electric attack submarines (SSKs): 0
 
Tantor said:
Not correct - The official Russian government casualty figures are over 2 million dead Ukrainians and approximately 150,000 Russians. Your stats are the typical Western figures drawn from Ukrainian propaganda.
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If the Russian government says anything 'official' you can pretty much be certain the actual truth is the exact opposite OR WORSE.
 
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