Starshield restrictions cause complete failure of drone missions in Ukraine

An anonymous Ukrainian official and the Chargé d'Affaires of Ukraine in the US stated that new technical restrictions on the Starshield satellite system have led to the complete failure of combat missions for unmanned aerial vehicles in Ukraine.

Gradual implementation of restrictions

According to Axios, an anonymous Ukrainian official stated that restrictions on the operation of the system, which the military uses to control drones and intercept Russian UAVs, were introduced gradually over three days.

The interlocutor emphasised that the dynamics of the failures were as follows:

• on the first day, problems affected 10% of missions;
• on the second day — 50%;
• on the third day, 100% of tasks were failing.

Technical reasons for disconnection

Denis Syienyk, the Chargé d'Affaires of Ukraine in the US, explained that the Starshield system disconnects when a drone develops a speed of over 100 miles per hour (approximately 161 km/h).

According to the diplomat, the Ukrainian side has still not received explanations from SpaceX or the Pentagon regarding the reasons for introducing these new restrictions.