The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are advanced thanks to Starlink's illegal systems: whether it is possible to break the connection
The Starlink system has greatly assisted the Defense forces of Ukraine at the beginning of a full -scale invasion, as it allowed to quickly transmit information and coordinate units. For a long time, the Russians exchanged data mainly with radio, and this was much slower. According to The Washington Post, the occupiers have been using a large number of Starlink terminals recently, making it better to storm, launch more drones and attack more accurate artillery.
According to the Ukrainian military, the distribution of such equipment was one of the key reasons for the promotion of Russian troops in the Donbass, in particular in the area of the coal and in the Pokrovsky direction. SpaceX, which has created Starlink, does not officially allow the Russians not only to use, but also to buy communication terminals, it is known that in Russia this satellite Internet simply does not work, otherwise the accounts are not activated.
However, it does not prevent entrepreneurs from the Russian Federation to buy equipment in neighboring countries, and then transfer it to the occupation troops into the war zone, where it fully provides access to the Internet.
At the beginning of 2024, the head of the People's Starlink Project and the former adviser to the Communications Communications and Cyber Security Commander of Ukraine Volodymyr Stepanets in an interview with Mind noted that it is possible to order Starlink on an official website from any country where sales and then Agree on delivery with a stranger carrier.
In particular, in Russia, terminals can quickly be distilled quickly from neighboring Georgia, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and from other European countries through intermediaries. In addition to distributors, there are also many companies that release the equipment. Around July 2024, it became known about the mass opening of stores in Russia, which trading Starlink terminals, for half a year, about 20 appeared.
Over the same period, the cost of the goods decreased and began to be actively sold in bulk. At that time, the Starlink terminal could be bought in the Russian Federation for 85-150 thousand rubles ($ 986-1740) by post-or 75 thousand rubles ($ 870) if you take 10 or more units. One of the sellers noted that the dealers bring equipment to the Russian Federation with the US and the UAE.
Some military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation boasted who were already using new satellite terminals of Starlink Mini from SpaceX at the front. According to reports in profile Telegram channels, they cost 130 thousand rubles (about $ 1,500) together with accounts. SpaceX stated that the terminals used by unauthorized users and the governments of Ukraine and the US are interested.
This is probably the most reliable way to deprive Russians with satellite Internet access on the battlefield, because after blocking they are unlikely to be able to enter the network without using complex software manipulations. But in practice, it is quite difficult to calculate such accounts, because they are not registered with Russians. To activate the terminal requires a foreign phone number, an email address and a bank account to pay a monthly subscription fee.
It is enough to find a person abroad who will agree for a fee to create such an account using their data. It is difficult to block the work of Starlink on the controlled Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, because the front line is constantly changing and there is a risk of preventing Ukrainian troops.
In 2023, the Ukrainian specialist in military technologies Sergey Beskrestnov, through experiments, determined that classic methods of radio electronic fighting cannot cut off the Starlink connection, but you can suppress GPS signals necessary for synchronization The same loses speed. Now this method is also not effective, because when it turned out that the Russians are suppressing GPS by means of EW, SpaceX found a way to solve the problem.
The company has added the terminals to determine its real location by their own satellites. The military can now simply turn off the GPS attachment in settings. Serhiy Gerasimyuk, the founder of the Antidron Ukraine, which produces the means of the EWS, recently told focus that there are already appropriate components to suppress Starlink from the ground in the market, but the module capacity is only 5 watts at a price of about $ 3,000.
This limits both the purchasing power and the effectiveness of such agents. "This was already used by the enemy, in particular in the Kharkiv direction, when our troops disappeared on the collision line, the Starlink signal disappeared," he said. Theoretically, Starlink satellites can be drowned from the ground by breaking off. As Sergei Beskrestnov explained, for this purpose, the ETB antenna must be directed to the satellite and create a more powerful signal.
This is simply done when the spacecraft hangs in one place relative to the ground, and its frequencies are known, but it is more difficult when it moves in orbit, and you need to constantly "target". The Russian Federation has two complexes of electronic wrestling that can suppress satellites-"Krasukha-4" and "Tirad-2C".
Technically, Russians can suppress the receiver of any satellite, whose reception antenna looks to the ground, but in the case of Starlink hinders a large number of such devices in the sky. To suppress the whole system, you need to collect in one place dozens of complexes of EBs, which must act in a coordinated purpose. The Russian Complex "Palatin" is called to bind the systems into one network, but until there was information whether the occupiers managed to do so.
Americans already have something similar. In July, Bloomberg reported that the US space forces plan to deploy 24 complexes of RBs by the end of 2024, which will be able to suppress Russia and China, temporarily disrupting space satellites without destroying them. However, it is doubtful that they use such remedies against their own Starlink system. The physical destruction of the equipment remains. Starlink antennas are known to and the Wi-Fi routers emit signals in different directions.
They can be fixed by means of electronic intelligence at a distance of several kilometers, and then strike at the position of the enemy, where they are located, artillery, drones, FPV diggers, or other types of weapons. The military has long prevented this by shielding metal equipment or burning it into the ground. You can also notice the starlink enemy tools visually, for example, during air exploration with drones.