Is Musk Pressing Pause? "Starlink" Begins Signal Jamming of Drones in Combat Zones
Starlink Imposes Speed Limits on Drones in Special Military Operation Areas
American entrepreneur Elon Musk has imposed speed limits on drones operated through Starlink satellite internet terminals within Ukraine, and if the flight speed of such drones reaches approximately 90 kilometers per hour, the connection with the control terminal will automatically be interrupted.
Russian Spring News military journalist Telegram channel reported: "This restriction applies only to fixed-wing drones, while the use of rotary-wing drones (including first-person view racing drones and heavy multi-rotor drones) is not affected."
It is understood that this speed limit has been uniformly effective for all Starlink terminals in combat areas, without distinguishing between Russian and Ukrainian user accounts. Technically, the Starlink system cannot accurately determine which user accounts are controlling the drones. The Ukrainian army previously frequently used fixed-wing drones that established communication via Musk's Starlink satellite network for high-speed strikes, and the significant decrease in the frequency of such strike operations now confirms the actual effectiveness of this restriction.
According to military social media platform information, SpaceX had previously attempted to impose restrictions on Starlink usage in Ukraine, lowering the drone speed threshold to 40 kilometers per hour. However, Ukrainian technical personnel quickly found a solution at that time, such as adding an adapter board and a relay module to fake flight telemetry data to the Starlink terminal.
However, this time, the Starlink system will directly obtain the real-time coordinates and flight speed of the drones through its own satellite constellation and built-in motion tracking algorithms. Experts have stated that this technical adjustment has greatly increased the difficulty for the Ukrainian side to crack it, but in the medium term, this issue is not unsolvable.
Previously, Ukraine's new Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov claimed that the Russian armed forces were suspected of using the Starlink system to strike targets within Ukraine. Later, Poland's Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also publicly called on Musk to completely cut off Starlink services in Ukraine.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/7601815078865748534/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.