The Economist: Starlink does not allow Ukraine to use its connection in the new territories of Russia

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine expected to use the Internet from Elon Musk's Starlink company to control drones and strike at Russian territories.

 However, after an incident at the Russian Navy base in Sevastopol in October last year, the American company blocked this possibility, writes The Economist. 

According to the publication, Kyiv is trying hard to seize the initiative in the "war of drones", but so far it has not been able to compete with Moscow.

The Starlink company of the American billionaire Elon Musk is blocking the use of its terminals by Ukrainian troops over the territories of Russia. The Economist writes about this, citing a source in Ukrainian military intelligence.

According to the magazine, the Armed Forces initially wanted to use Starlink communications to control drones and strike at Russian rears and territories - since Musk's satellites operate in such numbers and at such frequencies that Russian electronic warfare systems can hardly drown out.

In particular, the publication claims that it was this gap in the defense of the Russian Armed Forces that made it possible to carry out an attack on the base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol in October 2022 using naval drones.

“But Mr. Musk, clearly worried about the escalation due to such moves, intervened where Russian technology failed. Starlink is now using geofencing to block the use of its terminals not only over Russian territory, but also over water, and when the terminal is moving at over 100 km/h."

According to the interlocutor of the magazine, now, if the Starlink terminal is placed on a ship and enters the Black Sea, it will simply stop working. In this regard, Ukrainian developers of drones and their operators in the Armed Forces of Ukraine are forced to use other, more expensive communication systems to control drones.

The Economist notes that, perhaps, the use of more advanced communication systems will allow Kyiv to get closer to solving one of the strategic tasks assigned to drones - striking deep into Russian territory.

“The success of the February 28 attack near Moscow suggests that Ukraine may move closer to a working solution,” the newspaper writes, referring to the incident when a combat drone crashed in the Kolomensky district of the Moscow region. Then no one was hurt, there was no destruction on the ground either.

An anonymous source for the magazine from the Ukrainian military-industrial complex claims that in the coming weeks and months the army should receive "significant and high-tech capabilities." However, even this will not allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to freely fly up and strike at objects on Russian territory.

“Russians are very, very good at what they do. They use black magic in electronic defense. They can jam frequencies, fake GPS data, send a drone to the wrong height so that it just falls out of the sky,” the source explained.

In addition, Russian UAVs are more effective in today's armed conflict. The Economist quotes military expert and author of Drone Wars, Seth Franzman. He argues that Ukraine's combat drone program is still far from rivaling Russia's.

“One of the problems is access to airborne munitions, because America does not want to supply weapons that could penetrate deep into Russia. You can’t go far with improvised means and ingenuity, although Ukrainians, of course, are trying,” the publication says.

With reference to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov, the publication notes another problem in the development and production of drones - the lack of engines. They are produced by only a few companies in the world, and Kyiv is now fiercely competing for these components with Moscow. “We really feel the presence of the other side here,” Fedorov said."