24 February 2022: Vladimir Putin announces a formal escalation to begin special military operations in the Ukraine. 

26 February 2022: The then Minister of Digital Transformation, now Minister of Defence, Mykhailo Fedorov, does what everyone should do in any time of crisis; tweet at Elon Musk and beg for help. Fedorov requests for Starlink service and terminals to be shipped into the Ukraine. 

Eight hours later, in a move that can only be done by a benevolent billionaire, Musk enables connectivity and communication between civilians via Starlink.

March 2022: It is more than confirmed (by media and by internal communications involving Musk) that Starlink is aiding Ukrainian military operations. Notably, the Ukrainian Army’s drone specialist Aerorozvidka unit, is conducting around 300 missions a day to collect information on “priority military targets”. This intel is acted on by kill units and their R18 drones, which can drop 5kg bombs and anti-tank munitions in the dead of the night.

Starlink uses Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks to power their internet services. A user’s Starlink dish signals to a “constellation” of over 9000 satellites, which then communicate to Starlink’s Points of Presence (PoPs). A PoP is essentially the bridge between the signals and the internet. PoPs are physical data centers stationed around the world. You would buy a Starlink dish, the dish would send signals to satellites, satellites would send signals to PoPs.

The people of the University of Victoria PanLab conducted wide arrays of research into Starlink throughout the years, and would highly recommend taking a look. They notably put together an unofficial map of Starlink PoPs around the world.

Russians with(out) internet access

February 2024: Russia began utilizing Starlink for their own military operations using captured and internationally procured terminals. Russian Starlink usage was widespread. It powered drone and artillery units. Russian infantry were carrying mini terminals to maintain access to the internet at all times [1]. Because Starlink is un-jammable, unlike traditional radio and communications platforms, Russians used Starlink to connect to Signal and communicate their positioning.

February 2026: Starlink began requiring terminal verification, which almost immediately stopped Russia from using their unverified terminals [0]. Starlink terminals, including civilian terminals, had to be registered through Ukrainian online portals [1] and required hardline verification, such as Ukrainian IDs, biometrics and bank ID protocols. Additionally, Starlink signals registered from terminals travelling more than 90 km/h were automatically shut off. 

Several methods were employed by the Russians to try to work around this, including hiring Ukrainian dudes to purchase and verify terminals for them. More often than not, this resulted in several scams and honeypots that blew Russian force’s backs out.

Starshield

In August 2024, Ukraine signed a contract with the Pentagon to begin using Starlink’s much more secure defense built network, Starshield.

Starshield is built off of Starlink for US military purposes, but technically it’s owned and operated by the U.S. [2].

Starshield is of course more secure and uses a different satellite network than Starlink [3]. Starshield does still have the option to connect with civilian satellites to keep inter-operability an open option in case of interference with military specific interferences [4]. Starshield utilizes Starlink PoPs, but the data encryption and treatment is drastically different.

The Space Gun

The Tobol anti-satellite weapon is Russia’s attempt to fight back against satellites, with limited success. Tobol degrades satellite navigation by transmitting interference across the bands used by the Starshield constellation. This has led to certain areas where Tobol is deployed, such as around Saint Petersburg, having degraded signalling capabilities and inconsistent GPS readings. 

A data leak in 2023 suggested that Tobol was trying to be used on Starlink, with unclear results. There were reports of Starlink outages in October of 2022, however the origin of the outages were never discovered. Some blame Tobol.

The more recent development, Kalinka, is purpose built against Starlink. Kalinka gives Russia capabilities to both disrupt Starlink signals and locate devices connected to Starlink within a 15-kilometre radius. While Starlink signal jamming is important, locating terminals is very notable. Unmanned stealth drones and fleets are all backed by Starlink.

The Space Gun ver. Chinese

In Iran, the only thing connecting its citizens to Patrick Bet-David Valuetainment seems to be roughly 50,000 Starlink terminals. In response to this, Iran has been deploying satellite and Starlink jammers to attempt to maintain hold over Iranian cyberspace. The Americans claim this technology is coming from China.

While the accusation that China is aiding Iran against America does not have much evidence backing it, claims of existence of Chinese anti-Starlink tech are not completely unfounded. 

While “China developed a High-Power Microwave weapon” sounds like a BRICS News Tweet, it is in fact credible and true. This thing shoots waves of electricity, while also being compact and mountable. This weapon can send intense radio frequencies to disrupt generic electronic tools, such as antennas, radio signals, etc. Most importantly, this thing can target Starlink AND Starshield LEO Satellites, especially now that Starlink is lowering orbital distance for reliability's sake.

An additional strategy to keep an eye on is the “drone mesh” system China is testing to block out Starlink signals. In November 2025 the People’s Liberation Army simulated what this drone mesh would look like in order to block out unwanted telecommunications, including Starlink signals, in Taiwan. Simulations found that 1,000 - 2,000 relatively cheap drones are needed to get this done.

While the microwave gun and drone mesh is mostly theory for now, we should look to the South China Sea for potential applications.

The Philippines

Starlink has been having a slow but steady rise in the Philippines. 

In February 2023 Starlink officially activated broadband coverage in the region. Between then and now, terminals have become more widely available. In November 2023, terminals became commercially available in physical stores.

In 2026 Globe Telecom (responsible for >46% of the Philippine’s population’s mobile connectivity) has begun rolling out Starlink add-ons to all their Mobile plans. This add-on allows users to connect to Starlink in areas where their terrestrial networks are unreliable.

On the military side, Starlink has been outfitting the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) steadily. In 2024, there were reports of NGOs supplying terminals to troops stationed in remote regions of Laguna, which make clear the AFP's intentions for how Starlink is to be leveraged moving forward.

More transparently, the U.S. began transferring ownership of drone boats (aka Unmanned Surface Vessels / USVs) that utilize Starlink to the Philippine Navy in November of the same year.

Since then, the reports of USVs being used in training and military operations by the U.S. and AFP have accelerated. All the USVs rely on Starlink. Starlink is the backbone of a lot of the AFP’s capabilities. 

Strangeness in the South China Sea

For the past decade there have been disputes over claims of the South China Sea, mainly between China and the Philippines / U.S. One of these contested regions is the Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc a.k.a BdM). 

This year there have been reports of Starlink signals being jammed throughout the BdM. In February a Philippine Coast Guard official reported on Facebook that within certain radii of the BdM, Starlink seems non-operational. Notably, the radius of disconnectivity seemed to be changing and this effect is also impacting planes flying over the BdM. China’s only statement was that they will continue to exercise sovereignty over the region.

This technology is still in it's early days, but studying it is important. As the empire expands it's terror campaigns, they will face major infrastructure hurdles. Starlink and it's private-public partnership helmed by Musk is aiming to be a major player here.