this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
70 points (98.6% liked)

Ukraine

8272 readers
692 users here now

News and discussion related to Ukraine

*Sympathy for enemy combatants is prohibited.

*No content depicting extreme violence or gore.

*Posts containing combat footage should include [Combat] in title

*Combat videos containing any footage of a visible human must be flagged NSFW


Donate to support Ukraine's Defense

Donate to support Humanitarian Aid


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Russian forces are reportedly relying on illicitly obtained Starlink terminals to improve combat coordination and the effectiveness of their tactical reconnaissance strike complex (TRSC) in Ukraine as part of an overarching effort to reach technological parity with Ukrainian forces.

Ps: adjusted official title to cover content

top 7 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"Illicitly obtained" is a weird way to spell "Musk gave them the damned things".

[–] HowRu68 7 points 1 month ago

That's what crossed my mind tbh.. Don't care too much for that guy.

[–] mkwt 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Reminder: it is in SpaceX's interest to try to prevent either belligerent from using Starlink for military purposes. Among other reasons, SpaceX does not want tighter ITAR or EAR export restrictions that come with being a munition or dual-use technology.

[–] slaacaa 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I find it unlikely that they couldn’t track and disable units if they are used outside of a permitted region. They can also compare locations to license / point of sales, e.g. if a unit sold in China gets activated in East Ukraine

[–] partial_accumen 6 points 1 month ago

I find it unlikely that they couldn’t track and disable units if they are used outside of a permitted region.

This absolutely exists as a technological feature, though there may be a bit of lag of hours/days/weeks. In the USA their are two residential subscription levels. One subscription tier "Home" (minimum of 12 months) will allow you to operation the equipment in a fixed location (within a few miles of a point) for faster speeds and lower price. The other subscription tier "RV" (minimum of one month) will allow you to pa move your equipment anywhere (in the USA?) and get service, however the cost per month is higher, the data transfer and priority are lower.

In the early days of USA Starlink, users buying the "Home" service and moving the equipment outside of the registered geography were shut out of service. This proves that its possible to know where the equipment is supposed to be geographically, and shut it down if its not in compliance. Some users noted being able to run for a short time before being shut out, while others were shut out immediately.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The Pentagon is directly working with SpaceX on this. Awhile ago they said they had a handle on it but that it was going to be an ongoing problem as Russian evades their measures.

This was in May, and they've obviously figured another way around.

“At this time we have successfully countered Russian use, but I am certain Russia will continue to try and find ways to exploit Starlink and other commercial communications systems,” Plumb said. "It will continue to be a problem, I think we’ve wrapped our heads around it and found good solutions with both Starlink and Ukraine.”

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

SpaceX is a US contractor and benefits from all that entails. US is supporting Ukraine and Ukraine uses Starlink within Ukraine, for military purposes or otherwise.