Ukrainian military officials say a Starshield speed restriction disrupted drone missions, prompting Kyiv to seek its removal and raising questions about reliance on satellite links.
The 7th Air Assault Corps said terminals lost connectivity during the night of Oct. 13-14 in Kyiv (EEST, UTC+3). It reported that one unmanned-systems unit on the Huliaipole front canceled some missions after losing its connection. The corps also said slower drones faced greater exposure to enemy fire.
Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on defense technology, said on Telegram that the limit applied to Starshield’s military package and was set at 100 mph, or about 160 km/h. He said Ukrainian forces received no advance warning. The corps said UAVs could lose connectivity for 10 to 20 seconds at speeds as low as 110 to 120 km/h, making them harder to control. A Ukrainian Defense Ministry source told ArmyInform that officials had detected restrictions above 160 km/h but were still verifying the threshold.
Former Ukrainian defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov said connectivity at speeds up to 160 km/h was being restored and called removal of the Starshield limit critical. The Associated Press reported Oct. 16 that SpaceX had fixed separate connection outages after Ukraine raised them, while the speed cap remained.
SpaceX says Starshield serves government customers and uses technology from its Starlink network. In a post on X, Elon Musk said the U.S. government owns and controls Starshield, and that the military and president decide its operating limits. The Associated Press reported that President Donald Trump said he had not ordered the restriction and that the Pentagon had not responded to its questions.
The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Inspector General said the agency partnered with SpaceX in 2022 to provide 5,175 terminals to Ukraine’s state communications service. The report also described Starlink use for battlefield communications, drones and artillery targeting.
Beskrestnov told the Associated Press on Oct. 16 that Ukraine was discussing lifting the cap with SpaceX and the Pentagon or switching to an aircraft package without a speed limit. He said the alternative costs much more. No date for a decision was announced.
