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
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 #Starlink, espechally given it's big-ass dishes.
Even the #US #DoD uses #Iridium & #UHFSATCOM.
#SES & #Eutelsat have various commercial #Cband, #KuBand & #KaBand transponders for bidirectional data from their GSOs.
#Ukraine has both #Fiber and #Radio links (civilian and military) to link together units and emplacements. Espechally direct-burial/lie-flat fiber is used because #COTS 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 #Meme|fication and "scoreboard updates" but I'm shure worst-case the #NAFO friends will just pack in some 2,5" SSDs and USB cases with the next supply trucks or have some #Skyhook-Style delivery system if that was ever needed.
NFL. Seems like they would be foolish to imagine Starlink to be secure as well. Certainly nothing critical could be trusted on the network.
@mastodonmigration @GottaLaff Obviously, all #SATCOM is insecure.
X-Band - based #MILSATCOM use proprietary encryption systems.
The best in terms of #COTS AFAIK is #IridiumPTT which does #AES256 over the air (if not the entire #IridiumNext 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 #VPN!
@kkarhan @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff
Trust no network, not even your own.
@ai6yr @admin OFC it's trivial to find a transmitter when it transmits.
Also critical comms still uses #analog #PTT #Radios where only the transmitter can be detected during transmission, so troops can be commanded & warned without putting them at risk.
@admin @ai6yr yeah, these things are so bad, pretty shure @BNetzA has rejected #certification due to lack of #SpectrumCompliance and proper bandfiltering!
Last night I ordered up two MD-UV390s with OpenGD77 to run as hotspots. https://letsgetreadyinc.com/opengd390plus
@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.
@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff NOT TRUE!
The entire CnC systems for #UAV|s by the US DoD use X-Band for video feeds and #Iridium for remote control.
Basically no drone fielded supports #Starlink even as secondary payload because the angular velocity exceeds Starlink specs on existing terminals.
@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.
@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff no, they don't.
@kkarhan @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff Please excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.
@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff neither do I take yours.
In fact I've yet to see any #Drone using #Starlink in a combat setting...
@kkarhan @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQUeEyNc6eU
Took me a few seconds to find that video.
@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff that's on a car and not the terminals Ukraine got.
@amayer @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff If you find any drones with #Starlink that ain't some aerial survey gliders, feel free to point those out.