A Minute Of Military Porn For Musk And Starlink.

Elon Musk is a cynical cold-hearted businessman and when he does something it is not out of charity. 

SpaceX has reduced the Ukrainian military’s ability to use Starlink satellite internet service to control drones in its conflict with Russia, the company’s president Gwynne Shotwell has said. SpaceX was “really pleased to be able to provide Ukraine connectivity,” but the technology “was never intended to be weaponized,” Shotwell told the 25th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington on Wednesday. “The Ukrainians have leveraged [Starlink] in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement. So you know, we have to work on that [with] Starlink,” she said. Shotwell later clarified to journalists that she was talking about Kiev’s forces relying on Starlink to control drones in surveillance and attack operations. “There are things that we can do to limit their ability to do that,” she explained, referring to Ukraine’s use of Starlink with the UAVs, as quoted by Reuters. “There are things that we can do, and have done,” Shotwell added, without identifying the exact measures that had been implemented.

Immediate BS, Starlink ALWAYS was viewed as a military asset for Comm and Recon, period. And the "leveraging" was exactly what Starlink was created for. Even eight-graders know this. The reason for limiting the use of Starlink is entirely different, and embarrassing for the US and SpaceX. The name of the reason is a Hog-weed, aka in Russia as Borschevik. Here it is:

It is Russia's EW complex specifically designed for detecting and issuing targeting at Starlink terminals. It's range is 10 kilometers in 180 degrees sector and the accuracy is between 5 and 60 meters (in Russian). And here are the result of the use of this complex since December 2022. 

О проблемах ВСУ со спутниковой и радиосвязью, что приводит к потере оперативного управления войсками и нарушает координацию действий, сообщил представитель Народной милиции ЛНР Андрей Марочко. «Данный факт приводит к росту потерь украинских подразделений, паническим настроениям как у рядового, так и офицерского состава», — сообщил он. Практически полностью пропала связь, например, в Артёмовске (Бахмуте), в котором продолжают оказывать сопротивление наступающим штурмовым группам «Вагнера» подразделения ВСУ. С радиосвязью и мобильными телефонами понятно — их глушат российские станции РЭБ, но Starlink они вывести из строя не могут. Эти комплексы можно уничтожать огневым воздействием, но они малозаметны и достаточно мобильны.

Translation: About the problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with satellite and radio communications, which leads to the loss of operational control of the troops and disrupts the coordination of actions, said Andrey Marochko, a representative of the People's Militia of the LPR. “This fact leads to an increase in the losses of Ukrainian units, panic among both privates and officers,” he said. Communication was almost completely lost, for example, in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), where they continue to resist the advancing Wagner assault groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. With radio communications and mobile phones, it is clear that they are jammed by Russian electronic warfare stations, but they cannot disable Starlink. These complexes can be destroyed by fire, but they are hardly noticeable and quite mobile. The mobile direction finding complex (MCP) "Borshchevik", with which you can detect the work of Starlink satellite communication systems, is a new development of Russian scientists. Its creation was carried out by the private company "Sestroretsk Arms Plant" under the leadership of the candidate of technical sciences Alexei Tsarkov. By the way, he also supervised the development of a wearable radar station for detecting ultra-small targets Burdock. 

In addition, single Borschevik can detect up to 50 terminals in its sector. Obviously Russian Army will not use expensive Krasnopols or Iskanders to blow Starlink terminals, but those who use them are of great interest, but sometimes a single artillery raid on known coordinates is enough to wipe out both terminals and those who use them, who are the real targets. So, as with all US-made weapon systems provided to VSU, Starlink faces the same discreditation and embarrassment as was the case with every weapon US supplied to 404, be that Javelins, NASAMS or M777, among many others. This is the main reason for these moves on Musk company's part, not some anti-military "considerations". Nothing personal--just business. It is bad, very bad, for business.