4 ms·

I hear after the Ukraine war, Starlink became very good at thwarting jamming. I am confident the Iranians are not as sophisticated as the Russians in than front

by falaki 9mo ago

I hear after the Ukraine war, Starlink became very good at thwarting jamming. I am confident the Iranians are not as sophisticated as the Russians in than front.

ReptileMan 9mo ago
The Russians are themselves heavy users of starlink.
- null_deref 9mo ago
  Can you provide a source for this claim?
  - esseph 9mo ago
    Start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russian-Ukrainian_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russian-Ukrain... Scroll down to Russian use. Starlink receivers have been found in use in drones by both sides in the war. There's a lot of Open Source intel on this.
    - m4rtink 9mo ago
      I guess it is to a degree unavoidable - ukrainian units are using a lot of crowdfunded starlink terminals on the front, so even if you geo fenced usage only to the virtual cells outside of Russia controlled territory, you would also disable ukrainian sets at the front. So if Russians smuggle sets from other countries, they might not be really easy to tell from the "good" sets crowdsourced by the ukrainians and used at the front. As for use in long range strike UAVs I'm sure ukrainian units have specially registered units that will work anywhere but again, Russian long range kamikaze drones you have a smuggled unit that only activates once on ukrainian territory and be used for terminal guidance or reconnaissance. By the time the system spots a new terminal moving quickly in the wrong place the thing would have rammed into a civilian building somewhere.
      - rasz 9mo ago
        It doesnt matter where starlink terminals came from, all end up registered with Ukrainian MOD. Btw Poland pays subscription on ~50K of those.
  - iammjm 9mo ago
    Here, have a video of the russian cavalry with a Starlink attached to a horse. Yes, you have read that right. 2026 btw. https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1q7ii52/russian_soldiers_have_now_equipped_their_horses/ https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1q7i... Also: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/08/russia-satellite-dishes-horses-battlefield-internet/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/08/russia-sat...
    - deleted 9mo ago
      [deleted]
  - TiredOfLife 9mo ago
    Just the latest one https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/2009240533944947050 https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/2009240533944947050
    - lostlogin 9mo ago
      Twitter is a good source for this sort of evidence. It’s Musk, all the way down.
  - nfriedly 9mo ago
    Not the person you asked, but here's a couple of sources that back that claim: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-starlink-ukraine-gur-elon-musk-1868839 https://www.newsweek.com/russia-starlink-ukraine-gur-elon-mu... https://kyivindependent.com/nearly-half-of-usaid-starlink-terminals-sent-to-ukraine-found-in-russian-occupied-areas-inspector-general-says/ https://kyivindependent.com/nearly-half-of-usaid-starlink-te... Also, as I understand it, a big part of the reason USAID was fed "into the woodchipper" was because they were investigating SpaceX over Russian use of Starlink - see https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating-starlink-over-its-contracts-in-ukraine-2000559365 https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating...
    - runlaszlorun 9mo ago
      Thx for posting the USAID article. The brazenness of it all is astonishing. Thank God for the incompetence. It's like we're doing "Clown Show Mussolini".
    - JasonADrury 9mo ago
      >Also, as I understand it, a big part of the reason USAID was fed "into the woodchipper" was because they were investigating SpaceX over Russian use of Starlink - see https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating... The article you linked contains literally nothing supporting your accusation. Instead, it talks about an investigation targeting the aid recipient: >The USAID Office of Inspector General, Inspections and Evaluations Division, is initiating an inspection of USAID’s oversight of Starlink satellite terminals provided to the Government of Ukraine. Our objectives are to determine how (1) the Government of Ukraine used the USAID-provided Starlink terminals, and (2) USAID monitored the Government of Ukraine’s use of USAID-provided Starlink terminals
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
- darubedarob 9mo ago
  [dead]
throw0101d 9mo ago
[flagged]
- gilrain 9mo ago
  That link says the story was retracted.
  - throw0101d 9mo ago
    > That link says the story was retracted. Since the original comment was flagged, the original link with the 2023 story with retraction: * https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/07/elon-musk-ordered-starlink-turned-off-ukraine-offensive-biography https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/07/elon-musk... A 2025 article, "Musk ordered shutdown of Starlink satellite service as Ukraine retook territory from Russia": > KYIV - During a pivotal push by Ukraine to retake territory from Russia in late September 2022, Elon Musk gave an order that disrupted the counteroffensive and dented Kyiv’s trust in Starlink, the satellite internet service the billionaire provided early in the war to help Ukraine’s military maintain battlefield connectivity. > “We have to do this,” Michael Nicolls, the Starlink engineer, told colleagues upon receiving the order, one of these people said. Staffers complied, the three people told Reuters, deactivating at least a hundred Starlink terminals, their hexagon-shaped cells going dark on an internal map of the company’s coverage. The move also affected other areas seized by Russia, including some of Donetsk province further east. […] > After the book was published, Musk denied a shutdown, saying that there had never been coverage in Crimea to begin with. He said he had, rather, rejected a Ukrainian request to provide service ahead of Kyiv’s planned attack. Isaacson later conceded his account was flawed. A spokesperson at Isaacson’s publisher declined to comment or make him available for an interview. […] > As Ukraine’s counterattack intensified, Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21, 2022, ordered a partial mobilization of reservists, Russia’s first since World War II. He also threatened to use nuclear weapons if Russia’s own “territorial integrity” were at risk. Around this time, Musk engaged in weeks of backchannel conversations with senior officials in the administration of President Joe Biden, according to three former U.S. government officials and one of the people familiar with Musk’s order to stop service. During those conversations, the former White House staffer told Reuters, U.S. intelligence and security officials expressed concern that Putin could follow through on his threats. Musk, this person added, worried too, and asked U.S. officials if they knew where and how Ukraine used Starlink on the battlefield. > Soon after, he ordered the shutdown. * https://www.reuters.com/investigations/musk-ordered-shutdown-starlink-satellite-service-ukraine-retook-territory-russia-2025-07-25/ https://www.reuters.com/investigations/musk-ordered-shutdown...
lostlogin 9mo ago
> Starlink became very good at thwarting jamming. Musk proved quite good at blocking Ukrainian Starlink access too, supporting Russia. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66752264 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66752264

by falaki 9mo ago

I hear after the Ukraine war, Starlink became very good at thwarting jamming. I am confident the Iranians are not as sophisticated as the Russians in than front.

ReptileMan 9mo ago

The Russians are themselves heavy users of starlink.

null_deref 9mo ago
Can you provide a source for this claim?
- esseph 9mo ago
  Start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russian-Ukrainian_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russian-Ukrain... Scroll down to Russian use. Starlink receivers have been found in use in drones by both sides in the war. There's a lot of Open Source intel on this.
  - m4rtink 9mo ago
    I guess it is to a degree unavoidable - ukrainian units are using a lot of crowdfunded starlink terminals on the front, so even if you geo fenced usage only to the virtual cells outside of Russia controlled territory, you would also disable ukrainian sets at the front. So if Russians smuggle sets from other countries, they might not be really easy to tell from the "good" sets crowdsourced by the ukrainians and used at the front. As for use in long range strike UAVs I'm sure ukrainian units have specially registered units that will work anywhere but again, Russian long range kamikaze drones you have a smuggled unit that only activates once on ukrainian territory and be used for terminal guidance or reconnaissance. By the time the system spots a new terminal moving quickly in the wrong place the thing would have rammed into a civilian building somewhere.
    - rasz 9mo ago
      It doesnt matter where starlink terminals came from, all end up registered with Ukrainian MOD. Btw Poland pays subscription on ~50K of those.
- iammjm 9mo ago
  Here, have a video of the russian cavalry with a Starlink attached to a horse. Yes, you have read that right. 2026 btw. https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1q7ii52/russian_soldiers_have_now_equipped_their_horses/ https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1q7i... Also: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/08/russia-satellite-dishes-horses-battlefield-internet/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/08/russia-sat...
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
- TiredOfLife 9mo ago
  Just the latest one https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/2009240533944947050 https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/2009240533944947050
  - lostlogin 9mo ago
    Twitter is a good source for this sort of evidence. It’s Musk, all the way down.
- nfriedly 9mo ago
  Not the person you asked, but here's a couple of sources that back that claim: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-starlink-ukraine-gur-elon-musk-1868839 https://www.newsweek.com/russia-starlink-ukraine-gur-elon-mu... https://kyivindependent.com/nearly-half-of-usaid-starlink-terminals-sent-to-ukraine-found-in-russian-occupied-areas-inspector-general-says/ https://kyivindependent.com/nearly-half-of-usaid-starlink-te... Also, as I understand it, a big part of the reason USAID was fed "into the woodchipper" was because they were investigating SpaceX over Russian use of Starlink - see https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating-starlink-over-its-contracts-in-ukraine-2000559365 https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating...
  - runlaszlorun 9mo ago
    Thx for posting the USAID article. The brazenness of it all is astonishing. Thank God for the incompetence. It's like we're doing "Clown Show Mussolini".
  - JasonADrury 9mo ago
    >Also, as I understand it, a big part of the reason USAID was fed "into the woodchipper" was because they were investigating SpaceX over Russian use of Starlink - see https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating... The article you linked contains literally nothing supporting your accusation. Instead, it talks about an investigation targeting the aid recipient: >The USAID Office of Inspector General, Inspections and Evaluations Division, is initiating an inspection of USAID’s oversight of Starlink satellite terminals provided to the Government of Ukraine. Our objectives are to determine how (1) the Government of Ukraine used the USAID-provided Starlink terminals, and (2) USAID monitored the Government of Ukraine’s use of USAID-provided Starlink terminals
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
darubedarob 9mo ago
[dead]

throw0101d 9mo ago

[flagged]

gilrain 9mo ago
That link says the story was retracted.
- throw0101d 9mo ago
  > That link says the story was retracted. Since the original comment was flagged, the original link with the 2023 story with retraction: * https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/07/elon-musk-ordered-starlink-turned-off-ukraine-offensive-biography https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/07/elon-musk... A 2025 article, "Musk ordered shutdown of Starlink satellite service as Ukraine retook territory from Russia": > KYIV - During a pivotal push by Ukraine to retake territory from Russia in late September 2022, Elon Musk gave an order that disrupted the counteroffensive and dented Kyiv’s trust in Starlink, the satellite internet service the billionaire provided early in the war to help Ukraine’s military maintain battlefield connectivity. > “We have to do this,” Michael Nicolls, the Starlink engineer, told colleagues upon receiving the order, one of these people said. Staffers complied, the three people told Reuters, deactivating at least a hundred Starlink terminals, their hexagon-shaped cells going dark on an internal map of the company’s coverage. The move also affected other areas seized by Russia, including some of Donetsk province further east. […] > After the book was published, Musk denied a shutdown, saying that there had never been coverage in Crimea to begin with. He said he had, rather, rejected a Ukrainian request to provide service ahead of Kyiv’s planned attack. Isaacson later conceded his account was flawed. A spokesperson at Isaacson’s publisher declined to comment or make him available for an interview. […] > As Ukraine’s counterattack intensified, Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21, 2022, ordered a partial mobilization of reservists, Russia’s first since World War II. He also threatened to use nuclear weapons if Russia’s own “territorial integrity” were at risk. Around this time, Musk engaged in weeks of backchannel conversations with senior officials in the administration of President Joe Biden, according to three former U.S. government officials and one of the people familiar with Musk’s order to stop service. During those conversations, the former White House staffer told Reuters, U.S. intelligence and security officials expressed concern that Putin could follow through on his threats. Musk, this person added, worried too, and asked U.S. officials if they knew where and how Ukraine used Starlink on the battlefield. > Soon after, he ordered the shutdown. * https://www.reuters.com/investigations/musk-ordered-shutdown-starlink-satellite-service-ukraine-retook-territory-russia-2025-07-25/ https://www.reuters.com/investigations/musk-ordered-shutdown...

lostlogin 9mo ago

> Starlink became very good at thwarting jamming. Musk proved quite good at blocking Ukrainian Starlink access too, supporting Russia. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66752264 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66752264