Can enemies detect Starlink?

We provide a simple and clear answer to the question "Can enemies detect and locate a Starlink terminal?". We debunk myths and discuss real threats for Starlink users on the front line.

Today we will answer one of the most pressing questions for the military who use Starlink. Is it true that the enemy sees the terminal immediately? Are the coordinates leaked directly to the Russians? Or maybe the dish glows like a beacon, and a missile immediately arrives? In this material, we will analyze what is truth, what are fabrications - and what actually poses a danger.

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Myths and Fabrications

Myth 1. "The dish glows for kilometers"

You can often hear that Starlink is visible almost from space. In fact, this is a very big exaggeration. Yes, the terminal emits a signal in the Ku-band, i.e., at frequencies of 14.0-14.5 GHz and with very low power. The signal is very narrowly directed upwards, aimed at the satellite. Detecting such a signal is like looking for a smoldering ember from a fire at night – it's possible, but you have to get very, very close.

Of course, both the enemy and some Western companies have systems designed to search for and detect Starlink satellite terminals. However, all confirmed measurement results show: it is realistic to detect such a signal only at a distance of up to a few hundred meters. And this is under ideal conditions. Even with a margin of safety in the determination, the possible detection zone for Starlink terminals from the ground will have a radius of no more than 1 kilometer. There are aerial radio intelligence systems whose manufacturers claim detection capabilities of kilometers, even fantastic tens of kilometers. But in combat conditions, their effectiveness has not yet been confirmed a single time.

So the truth is this: the dish does not glow for tens of kilometers. It can only be detected from up close, about one kilometer. That is, you need to get close with very expensive and still very rare equipment and take several measurements from different points for triangulation. Is it physically possible to do this in your specific situation? - You have to answer that yourself.

Myth 2. "Elon Musk or SpaceX are leaking coordinates"

Another horror story is that SpaceX allegedly transmits the coordinates of Ukrainian terminals to the enemy. This is an absolute lie. Not a single case of coordinate leakage has been recorded. And if that happened, it would be an international scandal of enormous proportions that would instantly hit all world media. And let's look at it from another side: on the line of contact, there are many tens of thousands of Starlink terminals. And in Ukraine, there have long been over 200,000 of them. Someone has a private terminal, someone has a service one, someone has one from volunteers. And all this is constantly changing. Identifying whose terminal is where in real conditions is an extremely difficult task even for a supercomputer with the best AI 'under the hood'.

So the statement "Musk is leaking coordinates" is a pure myth and fabrication. The real risks are completely different.

Myth 3. "Starlink is more dangerous than a smartphone"

Some people think: if you turn on the dish, that's it, you immediately become a target. In fact, smartphones, tablets, and other devices with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth glow much more strongly in the enemy's electronic warfare (EW) systems. And it is they who form the so-called Wi-Fi trace - a unique map of active networks that the enemy can use. And it is much easier to calculate the position from this trace than from the terminal itself

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