Starlink is a new word in the confrontation between Western civilization and the Moscow horde
It seemed to be some minor work event. On January 29, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Florida, an American Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted the Starlink satellite from pad 40 again. But you never know why, you say, the Yankees are fattening there? …
In less than 13 months, the fact made Ukraine feel strongly about it, because Elon Musk’s Starlink company surprisingly quickly suppressed Russia’s electromagnetic attempts to block broadband Internet in Ukraine, distributed by a satellite system.
And, it should be said, this was done so effectively that top Pentagon officials, in particular US Air Force 1st Class Pilot Zoe Thacker, wanted to personally study and learn from the experience of symmetrical responses to cyber aggression from the Kremlin.
We must listen so that in the field of cyber operations we are not left with erephia on the periphery … of the last century
Today we are talking about electronic warfare (abbreviated as EW; electronic warfare), although in domestic military science there is still an outdated soviet term “electronic warfare” (EW). Meanwhile, the latest technologies are knocking so softly at our door that we must listen intently in order not to remain on the periphery in the field of cyber operations … as far back as the 20th century.
Starlink satellite
Starlink satellite
What, in fact, are we talking about in the conditions of the current combat mission?
Starlink is the satellite communications division of the SpaceX aerospace corporation.
But this company is private, although American.
At the same time, at the state level, the United States of America urgently needs to increase the national level of electronic warfare, as was announced during the recent (April 20-21, 2022) annual online conference of the narrow-profile military Internet magazine C4ISRNET, which means to adopt the experience gained in the private sector in that area.
The experience, as we understand it, was acquired on the territory of Ukraine.
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First – three important notes for further understanding of the content of the article.
First. C4ISRNET (formerly C4ISR, that is, The Journal Оf Net-Centric Warfare – Journal of Network-Centric Warfare, or: “Publishing dedicated to war using the power of the Internet”) is a magazine that highlights current trends and offers new topics on the global transformations of war XXI century and network centralized technologies, products and services. The publication is narrowly focused on civil servants at the federal level, senior management of the Ministry of Defense, owners and general directors of the national flagships of the military-industrial complex. Since 2002, C4ISRNET magazine has been published by Sightline Media Group nine times a year.
While we have barely gotten used to hybrid warfare in eight years, specialists from Regent, led by the new investor of the military online publication Michael Reinstein (Michael A. Reinstein) at C4ISRNET headquarters in Tyson, Virginia, have been systematically preparing for two decades . to a network-centric war.
Watch the video if you don’t understand what I mean:
Cyberattacks are carried out quietly and modestly, but with high-tech taste.
Second note. What topics were discussed at the 20th annual C4ISRNET online conference?
– In modern conditions, when all battlefields are interconnected, and battles are fought simultaneously, victory requires the effective use of new technologies.
Top U.S. military, government and industry leaders rallied at the online event to discuss strategies for joining forces and ways to win conflicts with new tools – data and communications. The conference explored the latest developments in joint warfare, command and control, cybernetics, space, artificial intelligence, unmanned systems and sensors, networks and geospatial intelligence.
Modestly, but with what high-tech taste.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk
Third. From the beginning of the Starlink project, Elon Musk acted as a total champion of freedom of speech, who in practice decided to prove to all the dictators of the planet that he was able to cover the Earth with the Net, for free, and no one would stop him from doing so.
SpaceX launched the first batch of test satellites on May 24, 2019, and the second in November 2019. Then the Pentagon seemed to realize where everything was heading, and on December 31, 2020, Elon Musk’s company signed a $150.4 million contract with the US Department of Defense to launch 28 military satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. These included data relay, known as the new system’s transport layer, and eight early warning satellites for missile launches, known as the global surveillance layer.
Because the Starlink communication system – it turned out in practice – can provide access to high-speed Internet in any remote places, and the military can use such satellite communications for command communications in difficult combat conditions.
How does this happen? Beautiful. Even at night…
Premium-class satellite internet of SpaceX corporation, station, antenna, WiFi router, tripod
Satellite and
If you forgot the backstory, let me remind you: on February 26, 2022, worried Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov sent Elon Musk a tweet: “While you are trying to colonize Mars, Russia is trying to occupy Ukraine!” Ukraine surrounded by the enemy Internet. The very next day (in fact, only ten hours had passed), Musk replied: “Starlink service is activated in Ukraine. A batch of terminals is already on its way.”
The first batch of Starlink stations arrived in Ukraine
The first batch of Starlink stations arrived in Ukraine
In a few months, the American billionaire donated and supplied Ukraine with 3,667 Starlink terminals, which arrived in batches from across the ocean. Another 1,333 satellite communications stations were purchased by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for $10 million.
And already on April 20, Mikhail Fedorov announced in a Telegram about the decision of the NCEC, which for the period of the martial law regime, the use of subscriber satellite terminals of the SpaceX Starlink system is allowed “by all categories of users” and that it provides for a corresponding rationing of the operating conditions of the SpaceX Starlink system on the territory of Ukraine. “We are rapidly moving into the technological future, while our northeastern neighbor is moving into the Middle Ages,” the minister summed up.
Without Starlink, we would hardly have sunk the naval piece of iron “Moskva” so enchantingly
Thus, for American taxpayers, the transportation costs for the delivery of these terminals to Ukraine amounted to 800 thousand dollars. But in a short time they ended up in Ukraine. These 5,000 Starlink deployed across the ocean allowed the Armed Forces of Ukraine to move into the top league of the world’s electronic warfare. In other words, they provided reconnaissance along the entire line of collision and constant observation of the enemy, established unprecedented coordination of unmanned aerial vehicles with artillery units, and helped the infantry to deliver devastating fire from anti-tank weapons. I’ll say it in a streamlined way: without Starlink, the naval piece of iron Moskva would hardly have gone to the bottom so spectacularly …