Beware of space communication

Does the mask have the opportunity to disable Starlink, which is widely used in the Armed Forces of Ukraine? Yes, but no

Reuters, with reference to their sources, said: in negotiations on concluding an agreement on minerals in Kyiv, the American delegation made it clear that the termination of access from the territory of Ukraine to the terminals of the civil system of the satellite Internet STARLINK can be blocked. This happened after Zelensky’s refusal to sign the initial version of the agreement, which many sources called Basal.

The story of Starlink in Ukraine is instructive. Initially, Elon Musk expected that in this way reliable management of the state would be ensured in the first place: satellite terminals cannot be suppressed by electronic warfare means on any significant areas. Separate terminals can be suppressed, although this is not such a simple task. But even the United States, which have the highest capacities of the corresponding equipment, will not be able to do this on the scale of even one area.

But life judged in its own way. In almost the first weeks, the terminals were in the army and became an ideal means of communication in the conditions of mobile hostilities. When the front was stabilized, the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces and fully appreciated all the benefits of the space Internet. By 2023, there were up to 20 thousand terminals in the army. Even the General Staff did not know the exact number: some of the equipment officially received, but a significant part through public organizations.

At first, Musk was worried: by radiation, the terminal is easy to detect and fired. He even tried to distribute instructions on how to behave when using Starlink in the battles zone. But no one listened to him anymore, entire compounds were already closed to his terminals.

The case with Starlink is another instructive example of this armed conflict. Civil technologies were ahead of the military by simplicity, cost and reliability.

Today, the degree of penetration of this technology into the troops has reached the point that a separate battery sometimes has its own terminal. Through the space, Magura's -ethnic boats are controlled, which from Odessa and Nikolaev are sent to operations towards Crimea. A significant part of heavy -scale heavy UPSs that reach airfields and oil refineries on the Volga and at the Polar Circle, reach high accuracy and are able to undergo a signal jamming area without prejudice for the operation exclusively thanks to an independent encrypted communication through space.

All this is so. But Ilon Musk was worried primarily due to the fact that his system was originally developed and created as a purely civilian one. The use of it in hostilities gives the brand and the entire image of the innovator an undesirable shade. And this will affect sales - competitors can indicate an emerging dependence of the user on the owner. China now creates two similar systems at once. Let us take into account two powerful competitors - European Oneweb and Kuiper Systems from Amazon, which also began to deploy their systems.

He looked into the water. From a relatively recent, the United States without hesitation uses global dependence of the world on its currency and markets as a weapon in competition. But Trump surpassed everyone in this, discarding formal decency.

The threats to turn off the ally army from the Starlink connection is a very heavy blow to the future sales of the mask.

Yes, there is no union agreement between America and Ukraine, not to mention the military. But in the eyes of the whole world, Kyiv undoubtedly relied on Washington’s help precisely as an ally. And the image of the blackmailer will become part of the image of Ilon Mask.

No one will even remember that for a very long time he paid for the terminals of the Armed Forces from his pocket and did not advertise it.

The loss of large -range weapons of the Armed Forces will survive. The main function of the thousands of Terminal Park Starlink in the army is the actual management. This has always been the subject of envy of the Russian military.

It is completely impossible to replace Starlink in management. But partial replacement is possible - using traditional means of army communications in combination with civilian mobile networks. The problem is that no one was preparing for such an incredible turn of events in the Armed Forces, the Starlink will turn off for the entire US combat control system: the question of combat stability at the operational level will arise.

The complication of technology and the interpenetration of global markets increasingly increase the dependence of the consumer countries. Few knew that Siemens controls all its large turbines in other countries via the Internet and could easily block their work. This key detail surfaced only when a conflict arose around their use in Russia after imposing sanctions.

Technically, Americans can easily turn off the terminals during the war, but this will catastrophically undermine the trust itself, primarily in military-political cooperation with America around the world. The issue of maintenance and remote control of the US forces purchased from the United States will arise on the agenda.

Therefore, I do not believe in the reality of such a scenario, especially since Musk spoke about this.

But the fact of the appearance of Starlink in the arsenal of extreme blackmail, which is not in recent history at all, is indicative. A severe dependence of this kind inevitably creates a temptation to use it for current needs of foreign policy.

Well, practical conclusions are obvious. Satellites on their own missiles launch a little more than a dozen countries. Cosmic troops control systems have units. The rest should think about the development of alternatives - this is absolutely real and cheaper than Starlink. At least 90% of the world’s armies should now refrain from the massive introduction of other people's civilian systems into their military infrastructure if they do not have control over them.