US drones dependent on Starlink, Ukraine seeks its own path

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Problems during US Navy maneuvers show that the USA is also dependent on Starlink. It is widely known that the mobile data connections enabled by the satellite network play an important role in the Ukraine war. If the data connection fails, it can paralyze military systems. This is what happened off the coast of California.

Both floating and flying drones were affected. Internal documents obtained by Reuters report multiple difficulties. In April 2025, Starlink proved not to be powerful enough. “Reliance on Starlink has exposed limitations under the load of multiple vehicles,” Reuters quotes from a security report. The Navy tested the simultaneous use of drones on water and in the air, but this overloaded the data connections. In the summer, connection problems recurred multiple times, and there were also difficulties with Silvus brand radio modules and a Viasat network.

On August 18, 2025, there was finally a total failure: Starlink was out of operation in parts of North America. As a result, two dozen US Navy drones drifted at sea for almost an hour. Remote control no longer worked without a Starlink connection. A spokesperson for the US Department of Defense did not comment on the details of the report to Reuters. She merely stated that the military uses “multiple, robust, resilient systems for its broad network.”

Starlink's importance in Ukraine

Starlink belongs to SpaceX, whose CEO is the richest person in the world, Elon Musk. According to a previous statement by Musk, Starlink was not designed to facilitate drone warfare. The satellite network was announced in early 2015 – the year before, the Russian Federation had occupied the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and started the war in Donbass. Starlink went into operation in 2021, and the following year Russia attempted a major offensive with the aim of taking all of Ukraine within a few days. This did not succeed, and the war continues with heavy losses on both sides.

At the request of the Ukrainian government, SpaceX enabled Starlink in the country. Both warring parties then used the service for military purposes. By the following year at the latest, Starlink was in use on all fronts. Also in 2023, the EU Parliament decided on the development of a European Starlink alternative called IRIS2. It is surprising that, according to the German Federal Government, the Bundeswehr needs neither IRIS2 nor Starlink.

For about a year now, Russia has reportedly been able to disrupt Starlink extensively. Only in February 2026 did SpaceX block unauthorized Russian Starlink receivers in the war zone, with detrimental consequences for Russian attacks.

Elon Musk is said to have sabotaged a Ukrainian attack at least once by unexpectedly shutting down Starlink. Ukraine is also dependent on the USA for reconnaissance, which has used this as leverage and temporarily suspended the information.

Ukraine plans its own satellites

It is no wonder that Ukraine is planning its own space force and its own satellites, which, however, must be purchased from abroad. The plan is to launch the satellites into orbit using Ukrainian rockets. Two test launches are said to have already been successful amidst the war. This was revealed by Fedir Venislavskyi, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense Innovation in the Ukrainian Parliament, to the Ukrainian news agency RBC-Ukraïna.

Because traditional rocket launch pads are large, stationary objects and thus relatively easy targets for the enemy, Ukraine relies on launching rockets from aircraft. From an altitude of around 8,000 meters, a rocket was launched twice. One crossed the Kármán line, considered the boundary to space at an altitude of 100 kilometers, the other was shot up to 240 kilometers, said Venislavskyi. This would be a world record, which the politician also claims for his country.

The technology is intended for launching satellites into low Earth orbit on the one hand, and for defense against Russian medium-range ballistic missiles on the other. The trajectory of these missiles passes through space, where they are difficult to detect, which is why there is no effective defense so far.

Long way to Starlink replacement

The establishment of the full Ukrainian Space Force will take three to five years, estimates Venislavskyi. However, the first “practical results” are expected sooner. The minimum equipment would be eight to ten satellites: four to five radar satellites, two to three for optical reconnaissance, and one to two more for telecommunications.

However, this cannot be a full replacement for Starlink; for that, “we need to start with several hundred satellites to cover the entire territory of Ukraine.” The budget for this is currently not available. After the war, the Ukrainian Space Force could become an economic factor, “because it involves the most advanced technology.”

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