by DAVID AXE
Right-wing trillionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has, for the second time in two months, throttled Ukraine’s thousands of Starlink and Starshield satellite terminals, effectively grounding offensive and defensive drones.
Musk previously insisted any request to throttle Ukraine’s satellite communications comes from the White House, although White House officials have denied that.
Just one month after the previous, weeklong restriction, Ukrainian operators noted their SATCOM dropping out as drones exceeded certain speeds: reportedly 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour) for the civilian-grade Starlink and 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) for the military-grade Starshield. “Past that speed, there are problems with the connection,” noted Rob Lee, an analyst with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.
Two main Ukrainian systems depend on Starlink and Starshield: defensive interceptor drones and offensive middle-strike drones that range across occupied Ukraine, striking Russian supply lines. Both types of drones depend on speed for effectiveness. Interceptors must accelerate to 600 kilometers per hour (375 miles per hour) to hit the fastest Russian cruise missiles and one-way attack drones. Middle-strike drones flying slower than 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) tend to get shot down.
“For us, this primarily means a significant complication in intercepting Russian jet-powered drones,” Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky wrote. “Unfortunately, there have already been strikes that got through because our interception systems cannot reach sufficient speeds and are unable to intercept in time.”
