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Extortion Inc.

Exclusive: US could cut Ukraine's access to Starlink internet services over minerals, say sources | Reuters

"During the meeting, #Ukraine was told it faced imminent shutoff of the Starlink service if it did not reach a deal on critical minerals, said the source, who requested anonymity to discuss closed negotiations." #Musk

reuters.com/business/us-could-

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@GottaLaff

NFL. Ukraine military is really smart. It will be a blow to lose Starlink, but they have certainly established contingency plans for this eventuality.

@mastodonmigration @GottaLaff noone relies solely on , espechally given it's big-ass dishes.

  • Even the uses & .

  • & have various commercial , & transponders for bidirectional data from their GSOs.

  • has a -Spotbeam.

  • has both and links (civilian and military) to link together units and emplacements. Espechally direct-burial/lie-flat fiber is used because parts are cheap, commonplace and unlike copper, they can do 160km+ without amplifiers with ample of room for splices.

Pretty shure Starlink was a mere "comfort feature" allowing units to send their drone footage from their FOB to HQ for instant |fication and "scoreboard updates" but I'm shure worst-case the friends will just pack in some 2,5" SSDs and USB cases with the next supply trucks or have some -Style delivery system if that was ever needed.

  • I'm shure the folks in the trenches will miss YouTubing in their toilet break, but I'm shure they still have enough and in reserve to compensate for it.
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@kkarhan @GottaLaff

NFL. Seems like they would be foolish to imagine Starlink to be secure as well. Certainly nothing critical could be trusted on the network.

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@mastodonmigration @GottaLaff Obviously, all is insecure.

  • X-Band - based use proprietary encryption systems.

  • The best in terms of AFAIK is which does over the air (if not the entire system except legacy services) but that is a fully-managed solution with custom, embedded hardware.

  • Whereas most commercial satellite Internet is insecure af [www.youtube.com], tho I'm shure Ukrainians know how to setup their own !

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@kkarhan @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff

Trust no network, not even your own.

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@admin @kkarhan Trusting the network run by a guy who has arm spasms reminiscent of the Third Reich would be... unwise. Full encryption on it, and realize your dish location will be transmitted to whoever wants it.

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@ai6yr @admin OFC it's trivial to find a transmitter when it transmits.

Also critical comms still uses where only the transmitter can be detected during transmission, so troops can be commanded & warned without putting them at risk.

  • OFC they gonna transparently encode & encrypt stuff but the ISM Bands & CB-Band is lit af...
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@kkarhan @ai6yr
From what I've seen and been told, the go to radio for the UA is a Motorola HT or mobile using AES256 encrypted DMR. You can get an off-brand chinesium version DMR HT for under $100USD. (TYT MD390UV)

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@admin @ai6yr Again, that's one of the tactical radios in use.

I know old German PTTs like the FuG 7b got handed over - freshly decomissioned after EMS & Fire Departments went fully digital (TETRA) in Germany.

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@kkarhan @ai6yr

By PTT, do you mean a handheld radio? They are called HTs, for Handie-Talkies™ from the Motorola classic marketing name for them. PTT means Push-To-Talk, which is non-specific.
In some circles the term is more correctly RTL, or Release-To-Listen.

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@admin @ai6yr yeah, abeit the old FuG 7b isn't really handy: It's about the size of a Cigar Box and weights about a kilo with a huge-ass NiCd - Battery screwed on the bottom.

  • Granted, it's 1970s tech...
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@kkarhan @ai6yr

Specifically the Motorola XPR series, or whatever they call the EMEA version. These are not even Public Service rated like the APX series, but still well built and easy to service. They are considered commercial grade.

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@admin @ai6yr I know these.

They were in use in German Fire Departments until they migrated over to TETRA...

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@kkarhan @ai6yr Here's two UA soldiers with XPR7550e HTs.

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@kkarhan @ai6yr
While the invaders use cheap $10 radios from Alibaba.

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@admin @kkarhan BF-888S, LOL.

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@ai6yr @kkarhan

Makes them easy to monitor since they transmit on every harmonic.

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@admin @ai6yr yeah, these things are so bad, pretty shure @BNetzA has rejected due to lack of and proper bandfiltering!

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@ai6yr @admin would would've only been a with the mod!

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@kkarhan @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff Starlink is THE ONLY satellite network that can be used to control drones in real-time.

All other (operational) networks rely on geostationary satellites that have a latency of around 2 seconds. Because the satellites are 36000 km away. (~600km for Starlink satellites).

I am sure the Ukrainians use that capability (low latency) extensively.

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@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff NOT TRUE!

The entire CnC systems for |s by the US DoD use X-Band for video feeds and for remote control.

  • In combat theaters, drones get either controlled by operators on the ground in visual range or get their targets directed by them i.e. via IR Laser Designators (so a Hellfire Rocket can home in!)

Basically no drone fielded supports even as secondary payload because the angular velocity exceeds Starlink specs on existing terminals.

  • Most drones fielded by are close-range multicopters that drop mortar rounds vertically into trenches, they don't have any , they barely have a video feed on 5,8 GHz...
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@kkarhan @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff I’m pretty sure they use Starlink on their bigger flying drones as a hub for the FPV drones.

And at least some of the sea drones also seem to use Starlink, apparent by the distinct dish.

The big combat drones like US reapers are not in any way comparable. From what I understand, those are more autonomous and as such don’t rely on low latency as much.

As for specs - who cares about those as long as it works.

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@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff no, they don't.

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@kkarhan @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff Please excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.

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@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff neither do I take yours.

  • It's just that so far there are 0 Terminals with TSO AFAICS, and if you can't even find Aerospace-grade Antennas on the civilian Luxury Passenger & Business Jet mariet, then it's even less likely you'll see some 1st gen Starlink dishes on a drone given it is a mechanically aligning phased array and the mobility aspects of Drone Warfare in Ukraine does not play nicely with .

In fact I've yet to see any using in a combat setting...

  • Not to mention the cost and payload of a Starlink Terminal compared to FPV & Line-of-Sight controls are makibg it not worth it. You'd rather see drones controlled with fiberoptical cables in tow instead of Starlink.
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@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff that's on a car and not the terminals Ukraine got.

  • argument invalid!
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@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff If you find any drones with that ain't some aerial survey gliders, feel free to point those out.

  • Meanwhile, I've yet to see in use on air vehicles in Ukraine at all...