Elon Musk’s Starlink helps Ukraine take out Russian tanks
SpaceX’s satellite Internet service Starlink is helping the Ukrainian military destroy Russian tanks and supply trucks, The Times of London reports. With 50 squads of expert drone pilots, Ukraine’s Aerorozvidka air reconnaissance unit has focused its sights on Russian convoys advancing on Ukraine’s cities and towns. The unit uses drones fitted with thermal cameras to scan
Elon Musk’s Starlink helps Ukraine take out Russian tanks
SpaceX’s satellite Internet service Starlink is helping the Ukrainian military destroy Russian tanks and supply trucks, The Times of London reports.
With 50 squads of expert drone pilots, Ukraine’s Aerorozvidka air reconnaissance unit has focused its sights on Russian convoys advancing on Ukraine’s cities and towns.
The unit uses drones fitted with thermal cameras to scan for and identify Russian vehicles during the night, when most are immobile.
Using a Starlink connection, the drone squads communicate with Ukraine’s artillery forces, who can then take out the targets with precision shelling.
The destruction of supply trucks carrying fuel has also left Russian tank squads elsewhere stranded.
Starlink’s service was activated in Ukraine following a plea from the country’s vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
With Russia taking out much of Ukraine’s ground-based communications infrastructure like cell towers, Internet and general mobile communication outages have become a challenge.
Satellite Internet provider Viasat also had most of its Ukraine-based satellite terminals in the country rendered inoperable following a Russian cyberattack.
Musk responded swiftly to Fedorov’s request, with the service going live in Ukraine less than 12 hours later.
To date, Ukraine has received at least four big batches of Starlink kits from SpaceX, allowing the country’s military to coordinate their defensive effort.
According to a source who spoke to The Washington Post, there were already more than 5,000 active Starlink terminals in Ukraine.
Fedorov has described the Internet connectivity provided by Starlink as excellent.
However, Musk has advised Starlink users in Ukraine to only turn on the terminals when required, as Russian forces might target them.
“Important warning: Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some parts of Ukraine, so probability of being targeted is high. Please use with caution,” he stated.
Main Image: BBC
