Ukraine discovers Starlink on downed Russian Shahed drone: report

According to a Ukrainian media report, Russia has installed Starlink terminals in its Iran-developed Shahed drones. If confirmed, this would be the latest modernization of the destructive kamikaze drones long used against Ukrainian cities.

Ukrainian air defense forces shot down a Starlink-equipped Shahed-136 attack drone during airstrikes on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the Ukrainian press reported Defense Express reported. Early Wednesday, the Ukrainian Air Force said it had intercepted 28 of 32 Shahed drones fired from Russia’s Kursk and Krasnodar regions.

The Ukrainian Air Force declined to directly address the reported discovery of Starlink in a Shahed drone as it approached Newsweekbut said Ukrainian experts were investigating targets shot down by air defense forces. Ukrainian teams studying changes to Russian drone designs have not yet received the wreckage of the crashed drone. Newsweek understands.

Defense Express Images shared purportedly showing the Starlink-equipped drone. Newsweek could not independently verify these images and has emailed Starlink and the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

Kiev has relied heavily on Starlink internet access for battlefield communications and control of Ukraine’s vast drone fleets.

Ukraine’s military intelligence said in February that Russian forces were using Starlink terminals along front lines, specifically pointing to Russia’s 83rd Separate Air Assault Brigade, which was reportedly operating in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region at the time.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency GUR, told Ukrainian media at the time that Russian use of Starlink was becoming “systemic.”

Starlink is owned and operated by entrepreneur Elon Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX. Starlink is responsible for a large percentage of active satellites. Musk has vehemently denied that Starlink will be sold to Russia.

SpaceX said earlier this year that it “does not conduct business of any kind with the Russian government or its military.”

“Starlink is not active in Russia, which means the service will not work in this country,” the company said in a statement. “SpaceX has never sold or marketed Starlink in Russia, nor has it delivered equipment to sites in Russia. When Russian stores claim to sell Starlink for service in this country, they are defrauding their customers.”

“If SpaceX becomes aware that a Starlink terminal is being used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party, we will investigate the allegation and, if confirmed, take action to disable the terminal,” the company added.

A Kremlin spokesman said in February that Starlink is “not a certified system for us” and therefore “cannot be used officially in any way.”

But back in May, then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy at the Pentagon, John Plumb, told Bloomberg that the US was “strongly involved in working with the government of Ukraine and SpaceX to counter Russia’s illegal use of Starlink terminals.” .

“At this point, we have successfully countered Russian use,” Plumb added at the time. “But I’m sure Russia will continue to try to find ways to exploit Starlink and other commercial communications systems.”

Russia’s use of Starlink will continue to be a problem, he said.

Moscow has widely used Iranian-designed Shahed drones and Russian-made versions called Geran unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack Ukraine during more than two and a half years of all-out war.

Shaheds are known for their distinctive, deep humming sound. They can carry a warhead that shatters or explodes when it reaches its intended target. Once they are detected, Ukraine can shoot them down relatively easily – often with large-caliber machine guns or self-propelled anti-aircraft guns – but detecting them is often the biggest challenge.

Russia has previously upgraded the Shahed drones, including by using radar-absorbing material and black paint to make the attack UAVs harder for Ukrainian forces to detect.