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Starlink outage hit drone tests, exposing Pentagon’s growing reliance on SpaceX
- Last August, a global Starlink outage disrupted U.S. Navy tests of unmanned vessels off the California coast, leaving two dozen boats unable to connect for nearly an hour.
- SpaceX's Starlink broadband is crucial to the Pentagon's drone program, yet Navy internal reports found that "Starlink reliance exposed limitations under multiple-vehicle load." High data demands during tests strained the network connection.
- Beyond drones, SpaceX has cemented a dominant market position in space launches and communications, generating billions for the company. The Navy report also noted technical issues with radios from Silvus and Viasat.
- Democratic lawmakers have warned the Pentagon about relying on a single company led by Elon Musk, citing previous service concerns in Ukraine and Taiwan. Critics argue this concentration creates risks should the vendor be dropped.
- Experts like Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute argue the benefits of Starlink's ubiquity often outweigh outage risks. Clayton Swope of the Aerospace Security Project said, "If there was no Starlink, the U.S. government wouldn't have access to a global constellation.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Pentagon Disturbed as Its Fleet of Drones Is Left Bobbing in the Ocean When Elon Musk's Starlink Fails
Two dozen unmanned surface vessels — autonomous boat drones, basically — were left floating in the Pacific ocean after a massive outage of SpaceX’s Starlink internet service left them adrift. That event, first reported by Reuters, left the experimental robots disconnected and bobbing in the ocean for nearly an hour off the coast of California. It was one of several Pentagon experiments disrupted by the Starlink blackout, according to Reuters. Th…
Tech Radar
technewstube.comA Starlink outage left dozens of unmanned US Navy vessels stranded off the California coast — and exposed the Pentagon's worrying reliance on Elon Musk
'You accept those vulnerabilities because of the benefits you get from the ubiquity Starlink provides' — and it's the only realistic option right now.
Last year, a significant incident occurred in the United States. The US Army has a critical dependence on the Starlink satellite communications system, posing significant risks in the event of a potential military conflict with China, according to RBC-Ukraine, citing Reuters. Read also: "Space Pearl Harbor": US Announces Russia's Plans to Place Nuclear Weapons in Orbit Journalists recalled a major incident that occurred last summer during the te…
Pentagon reliance on Starlink exposed by outage | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Last August, U.S. Navy officials carrying out a test of unmanned vessels realized they had hit a single point of failure: Starlink. A global outage across Elon Musk’s satellite network, affecting millions of Starlink users, had left two dozen unmanned surface vessels bobbing off the California coast, disrupting communications and halting operations for almost an hour.
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