Units of the 7th Air Assault Corps encountered disruptions to Starlink overnight on 14 October. The cause was a restriction on data transmission speed, which affected drone control.
This was reported by the 7th Air Assault Corps.
According to the troops’ observations, during UAV flights at speeds of 110–120 km/h the connection could drop out for 10–20 seconds. During this time, the aircraft continued moving, but operators lost the ability to control them properly.
The corps explained that the problems are linked to the Starshield package intended for military use. Previously, it had no restrictions on data transmission speed.
Connection disruptions also create risks for the use of high-speed drones. In particular, Middle Strike-type aircraft must build up high speed on launch, and an unstable connection may make it impossible to launch them or use them as intended.
The consequences of the problems have already affected combat operations. According to the 7th Air Assault Corps, since the start of the day, one of the unmanned systems units on the Huliaipole axis was forced to cancel some missions due to connection disruptions.
- LB.ua sources in the Defence Forces confirmed information about new restrictions on Starlink. According to presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov, the Ukrainian military were not warned in advance about the introduction of the restrictions, which led to the disruption of some combat missions.
- Previously, SpaceX had already restricted the use of Starlink during a number of long-range strikes on targets in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. This led to the disruption of certain operations.