Starlink outage exposes US military's reliance on satellite comms — Reuters
Photo: The Pentagon's reliance on Starlink has been revealed in the US (starlink.com)
The US military is critically dependent on Starlink satellite communications, which poses significant risks in the event of a potential military conflict with China, Reuters reports.
Journalists recall a major incident that occurred last summer during tests of naval drones.
Due to a global outage in Starlink’s service, millions of people were left without communication, and two dozen US Navy drones drifted off the coast of California for an hour after losing control.
The Pentagon views naval drones as a key tool for countering China. However, Starlink’s frequent technical glitches cause operators to lose control of the equipment at critical moments.
SpaceX's monopoly
The situation is complicated by SpaceX's de facto monopoly on space launches. This brings the company billions in revenue, but at the same time makes US defense capabilities overly dependent on a single company.
As an example of these risks, Reuters cites the situation in Ukraine, where the military faced difficulties due to SpaceX's refusal to provide connectivity over occupied territories or Russian territory.
The report also mentions the company’s likely refusal to serve US military personnel in Taiwan to avoid sanctions from China.
Despite this, Bryan Clark, an expert on autonomous warfare at the Hudson Institute, believes that the benefits of Starlink currently outweigh the risks. According to him, the service’s low cost and accessibility make it indispensable.
"You accept those vulnerabilities because of the benefits you get from the ubiquity it provides," he says.
Starlink blocking for Russians
Russian troops began using drones equipped with Starlink, prompting Ukraine to appeal to SpaceX founder Elon Musk to restrict their access.
As a result, access to Starlink for the Russians was blocked. Following this, Russian units on the battlefield faced widespread communication disruptions, which significantly complicated the command and control of their forces.
Russian attempts to switch to alternative means of communication proved less effective, creating additional problems for them on the front lines.
