Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Elon Musk’s growing power over the fledgling LEO (low Earth orbit) satellite sector has long been worrying global military leaders, especially after one incident a few years ago where Musk restricted Ukraine’s access to the service near Crimea because he personally opposed Ukraine’s military aims (defending itself from unprovoked invasion).
And while it took a while, there’s evidence Europe and Ukraine are finally starting the necessary migration off of Elon Musk’s satellite communications platform. Last week Reuters reported that Berlin has been paying for Ukraine’s access to France’s Eutelsat for much of the last year. Initial numbers are low, but they’re hoping to ramp up quickly:
Eutelsat’s OneWeb division is Starlink’s primary rival in the low-Earth orbit satellite space. The company has around 650 LEO satellites in orbit at approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) altitude, while Starlink has a notable early advantage with over 7100 LEO satellites in orbit. Other companies, like Bezos’ Project Kuiper, are poised to enter the historically challenging market with high operational costs.
Elon Musk’s increasingly unhinged behavior continues to be a wonderful marketing opportunity for companies that want to provide alternatives to people who prefer their companies with a skosh less racism and fascism. Trump’s annoying tariffs have also been driving foreign governments (like Canada) away from Starlink, though it’s all happening slower than many would like.
Don’t feel bad for Elon Musk though. Potentially unsecured Starlink terminals were recently attached to the White House roof, creating major new potential cybersecurity risks. U.S. Republicans are also trying to hijack the $42.5 billion U.S. infrastructure bill broadband grant program and redirect as much of the money as possible to Musk.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Sunday April 13, @07:16AM (3 children)
Word of the year is definitely "Musk"
Not even sure what to think about this article as the gist is that Ukraine is going to diversify its communication fleet as Europe gets more involved with a war on their continent, but basically says its a bad idea because of Musk and his whims? or isms? or that a satellite receiver on a building is an immediate threat to national security?
Feels almost like an anti-musk AI bot wrote this, but then again, not enough Chatgpt lingo.
Got me....
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Sunday April 13, @08:41AM
Zed's dead, ba... sorry, lemme try again
Musk's dead, maybe, Musk's dead. [vanityfair.com]
Musk's China interest and Trump's actions are at odds.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 13, @07:32PM
There is a fucking unsecurable wifi network operating inside the White House. Any enemy of the USA would gladly pay ten thousand soldier's lives for such an advantage. Yes, it's an immediate threat to national security.
But you know that.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by corey on Wednesday April 16, @12:11AM
I'm surprise it hasn't become a meme verb, e.g.:
"I really Musk'd that up." (To screw something up, or fail at something)
Same with nouns, e.g.:
"What a Musk." (To refer to someone derogatively)
"You Elon."
Actually, it turns out, it already has been done!
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Musked [urbandictionary.com]
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Musk [urbandictionary.com]
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Sunday April 13, @08:20AM (16 children)
US officials object to European push to buy weapons locally [reuters.com]
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Donald Trump tells EU to buy more US oil and gas or face tariffs [theguardian.com] ... Europe’s LNG imports decline 19% with gas demand at 11-year low [ieefa.org]
German poll: Majority for return to nuclear energy [dw.com]
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Why are US Treasury bonds losing their safe-haven status in dramatic sell-off? [euronews.com]
US 10y bond yield at briefly over 4.5% on Fri, Apr 11 (4.48 close time) [ft.com]
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Insightful) by janrinok on Sunday April 13, @08:41AM (5 children)
Why are they surprised? This is what they wanted Europe to do. They didn't want us relying on them - we were being ungrateful and not paying our way, they said.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday April 13, @10:33AM (3 children)
They aren't. They are annoyed that they've been too "subtle" when they asked Europe to increase their defense expenditure, when they actually meant "buy more US weapons".
I s'ppose the same kind of "subtlety" that hit Putin's "not an inch NATO expansion eastward" a few years back.
Those Europeans aren't very amenable to "superpower pressure", looks like.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday April 13, @11:08AM
All fair points.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by gnuman on Sunday April 13, @12:38PM (1 child)
And Putin never really cared much about NATO. The expansion he actually complaining about is cultural and economic. But since you can't use trade agreements as rationale for war, you bring back your NATO card, even if it's not the reason.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/22/ukraine-european-union-trade-russia [theguardian.com]
Keep in mind the date of the article and that Russia annexed in 2014.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday April 13, @01:54PM
For all we know, w/o a doubt Putin care(d/s) about Putin - anything [wikipedia.org] else [wikipedia.org] is too uncertain/dynamic.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Sunday April 13, @01:54PM
They're surprised because.. well... look:
THEY VOTED FOR TRUMP!
They is not that smart... in their own words,
"Hey! We voted for Uncle Dad Trump and we'se gots Uncle Dad Trump and some cheese-head guy and a bunch of YES men and women whose will falls all over Uncle Dad to... wait...whats was wese talkin' about? Hey! Look.... SHINY!"
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Sunday April 13, @10:18AM (9 children)
Obvious that they did not have this in mind, but they really should have. From what I can tell from the local newsfeeds this is really what is on top of the agenda for various European arms manufacturer of every kind and system - to disconnect their products from US made parts, US made/controlled systems. The countries in turn appear to be bending over to try buy non-US goods in that regard.
Which perhaps in some way is how it should have always been. They have very little need for US-military supplies. They are over constructed and not suited for their needs, there is no need to buy aircraft that are made to land and takeoff from carriers if you don't have one or ever plan on getting one, if you don't want to play world-police then you don't need gear to work in all environments etc. You are just not getting good bang for your buck by buying American military hardware in that regard. This is the thing I am seriously wondering if the current US government understands, all the "softpower" they had previously sort of made countries/allies/NATO buy American to be friends. But since they don't want to be friends anymore ... why bother.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Sunday April 13, @11:38AM (4 children)
About 10 mins video arguing US always wanted small European armies [youtube.com] - some individual details are somehow forced/debatable, but I found it plausible that US wanted to retain the status of the toperest dog in Europe and it would have been bloodier more expensive above for US to justify an "incontestable leader" position in circumstances of beefed up European armies.
IDK how much they turned towards other non-US supplier yet**, but Google's AI offers the following quip on "f35 orders cancelled"
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** Zee Germans published a report [defence-ua.com] indicating everything they supplied to Ukraine has flaws when confronted with the reality of the war
A surprising point
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by looorg on Sunday April 13, @01:16PM (1 child)
I recall seeing a few countries currently wishing they had not signed up to buy that latest flying F35 gizmo. It just doesn't really make sense to buy that kind of plane when your country technically is quite small. Even tho you should use it then for combined airpower with other nations, then it's nice to have the same or at least similar. But for their own needs? No sense. They bought those, or signed up to, for reasons that include other things then their own needs. Those things are now sort of murdered by the current US administration. So that need or reason does not quite exist anymore as far as I can tell.
The other one I saw was France and Sweden talking about various joint efforts. Apparently France is about to retire their AWACS and are sort of looking at the GlobalEYE as a replacement. Even tho they are probably not quite the same thing. They just really don't want to buy American from what I can tell. So it's either that one, or they'll have to rapidly start patching their current fleet and start production on something of their own to fill the niche. One would think France could build their own, after all they build their own aircraft just like Sweden does. But I guess it's nice then if you can buy European, I think they wanted Sweden to buy something French tho as some kind of quid pro quo. Not sure what that would be tho. I'm sure they make something nice that Sweden could use, just not combat aircraft and they have no need for Submarines, naval crafts of any kind, rifles, artillery, apc, radar etc either since they make all those things already. Plus I think Sweden gets its tanks from Germany.
I guess it doesn't necessarily have to be a military hardware thing, they could buy something else. France still knows how to build nuclear power plants. Which Sweden is currently thinking/planning to put up more of again. So that could be a thing.
Anyhow. It makes more sense to buy within the EU instead of dealing with the outside idiots since they appear to have completely lost it in almost all sense of the word.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday April 14, @01:13AM
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday April 14, @03:48AM (1 child)
A reading-between-the-lines summary of another writeup I'd seen on that seems to be "50-year-old agricultural-grade equipment you can duct tape back together again when there's a problem is far better than finicky high-tech toys that fail when a wire comes loose".
Possibly leading to the conclusion that the ideal piece of armour for use in Ukraine is a Stug-III.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday April 14, @03:53AM
Damn, hit submit too early:
(Score: 2) by gnuman on Sunday April 13, @12:30PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_aircraft_carrier_Charles_de_Gaulle [wikipedia.org]
and it mostly has,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Rafale [wikipedia.org]
So don't feel too smug about US here. Most nations do not want or need to project airpower around the world.
US didn't make anyone buy American, much at least. But US, though its alliance, indicated that they will always stand by its allies. Then it is *safer* for these allies to rely on manufacturing in US considering that it's further from any potential conflict. It's also cheaper to buy from US and sell back cars and whatnot. But if US cannot be relied upon, than EU needs to invest into making its own military complex. Like I wrote before. 1% GDP spending can go to US and boost manufacturing there. But when you alienate your allies and they need to spend 4% GPD, they will then spend it local instead. Especially since
https://newrepublic.com/post/193028/donald-trump-threat-allies-fighter-jet [newrepublic.com]
(Score: 2) by corey on Monday April 14, @12:28AM (2 children)
The US have a big push-factor (away) for any systems or parts they supply, and that is ITAR (International Trade in Arms Regulations). Basically, any military part or system designed or built in the US is covered by the ITAR, which means it is export controlled by the US State Dept. And anyone working on a system involving anything ITAR must be cleared (usually that means with friendly nation citizenship). Anything that is designed and built outside of the US, but has a ITAR component in it, becomes covered by ITAR as well. Then if that country wants to sell or ship that system (or any of its design) overseas, it must get approval from the US State Dept. It's super restrictive and tedious. Means the US controls the movement of any physical equipment or paper-based design or calcs around the world that involves anything designed by the US. Breach of the regs involves sanctioning of the entity (business or govt), exclusion from future contracts and huge fines.
Since anything European built or designed is free of ITAR, there's always been a gravitational pull toward their gear, moreso now.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday April 14, @03:55AM (1 child)
It's actually rather more complicated than that. Perun has a good in-depth explanation [youtube.com], far better than anything I could type here.
(Score: 2) by corey on Wednesday April 16, @01:25AM
Definitely. My explanation was imperfect and terse and only a part of the story.
(Score: 2) by bart on Sunday April 13, @11:00AM (7 children)
For now, Starlink has NO competition in the consumer low-latency satellite internet space. Oneweb is not marketed to consumers, but to businesses, so if you're like me in the Spanish backcountry, Starlink is the only option.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Sunday April 13, @11:27AM (3 children)
You won't lose Starlink, of course. We will just not depend upon for our strategic needs.
My GPS systems all use any GPS satellite including the Russian GLONASS. I accept that it will not be there during times of tension but the other systems will be. Same with comms via Starlink, for the moment it is the only option.
Oneweb is limited to business at the moment because they are trying to reduce their debts and make the system profitable. I don't think that private users are top of their customer list at the moment. I expect that will change.
A choice of systems might also make the field a little be more financially competitive.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by chucky on Sunday April 13, @01:26PM (2 children)
When it comes to 'my GPS systems all use any GPS satellite...', I would really like to know what my telephone uses and eventually switch and try running Galileo only. But with an iPhone you can't even get to raw positioning data. So, it will not be like my old car GPS used to be. That showed which satellites it sees and if 4 or more, it was able to navigate. I don't even know if or how Galileo really works, because there's no easy way to try it. So that one is not for consumers either.
(Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Sunday April 13, @01:50PM
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Sunday April 13, @06:07PM
It's entirely possible the firmware in the GPS module does not support that.
I was messing around with some u-blox products some years ago for fun and some of the combos are bizarre and generally technically driven.
For example GPS and Galileo use the L1 frequency band so you could turn the entire L1 band on or off. It was implemented for technical reasons (like front end filtering) not for political statement making LOL. The individual bands are really marketing, its fairer to say there's L-band high and L-band low. We don't make equipment with narrow enough filters to select "B1" band at 1561 vs "L1" band at 1575 it would be technically possible to design something that narrow but nobody sells such a thing.
There's a lot of systems flying right now, people seem to underestimate that. There's not a USA vs Euro situation, its not that simple. If the USA intentionally degraded the GPS signal, thats fine because the Russians transmit GLONASS, the Chinese have the BeiDou system, the legacy europeans have Galileo until they stop funding it, there's Japan's hard to explain QZSS augmentation system if you live in greater Asia area, so you have 4 or 5 separate systems to listen to and "many" / "most" / "modern" GPS modules will listen to all of them simultaneously and consider one of the signals being in error to be jamming or a broken sat, and more or less filter it out and ignore it. It wouldn't really "do" anything.
My idea, which went nowhere, was about two years ago I thought it would be amusing to statistically compare Galileo vs BeiDou vs GPS vs GLONASS using a then new (even in 2025, pretty new) NEO-M8 module. It is indeed a nightmare and requires weird firmware configuration software on a PC and upgrading firmware on the GPS module and strange NMEA codes and just a mess.
Note that time marches on so a couple years ago a M8 sold for $100+ and now a legit module from a legit legal supplier costs as much as a nice dinner and a Chinese fake clone that probably isn't even a M8 LOL sells for about the cost of a lunch, and someday they'll be cheap enough to put into a phone like the $2 modules they use now. Of course my latest phone was $50 I stopped chasing top of the line phones a long time ago, and they're not installing a $30 NEO-M8 GPS module in a $50 phone... Remember a $1500 iphone is ALSO a $50 phone with luxury-tax applied so that will not have a top-of-the-line GPS module in it either.
Apparently the new hotness is no longer the NEO-M8 its the NEO-F9P and you're looking at $100 to $200 delivered (for a bare module). SparkFun has been into GPS lately, that's where I buy that kind of stuff. They sell a F9P plug and play board for $260, which sounds about right, parts cost about half of a retail dev board product. "The best" commercial-integrator GPS module has been like $100 to $200 since the 90s, its a constant price point as products improve.
Anyway in summary what you're asking for is barely possible with professional/research grade hardware so your phone's probably not doing it today, but maybe in half a decade when what used to cost $200 a couple years back sells for $5 (inflation adjusted)
(Score: 5, Interesting) by mhajicek on Sunday April 13, @05:22PM (2 children)
The "low latency" feature has greatly diminished. I got Starlink as soon as it was publicly available, and at first it was good enough for playing artillery in World of Tanks. Now, about 5% of the time I reload a web page there's a ten second delay.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bart on Wednesday April 16, @09:38AM (1 child)
I'm using Starlink all the time, and the current ping time is 17 ms. I haven't noticed any increase in latency over the last year. Probably related to how many customers there are in your cell.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday April 16, @08:01PM
Yep, I'm in a pretty heavily populated area.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 13, @07:33PM
The faster the better.
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Slava Ukraini! Slay the Orcs!
(Score: 3, Funny) by pe1rxq on Sunday April 13, @08:17PM (1 child)
Make America Go Away
(Score: 2) by chucky on Sunday April 13, @08:54PM
I don’t want America to go away. As a European I think they do certain things far better than us (not lately though). I’m just afraid that they don’t have a proper plan B and their glorious MAGA turns into MAGB = make America go bankrupt, and history has seen what a really big crisis leads to.
(Score: 2) by dw861 on Monday April 14, @02:52AM
This is interesting. The government of Canada has long been keen on funding Telesat Lightspeed as a domestic alternative to Starlink and Project Kuiper. Previously, I thought that it would be a really rough go for them. That will probably still be the case, but things are getting that much easier for them.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aim on Monday April 14, @09:59AM
There's also the O3b network from SES (luxembourgish company, operating world-wide). Especially with buying up Intelsat, in numbers they're only behind Starlink.
(Score: 2) by DadaDoofy on Tuesday April 15, @06:06PM
"Elon Musk’s increasingly unhinged behavior continues to be a wonderful marketing opportunity for companies that want to provide alternatives to people who prefer their companies with a skosh less racism and fascism."
Seriously, if it weren't for double standards, there wouldn't be any standards here at all. I was once admonished by an editor of this site:
"Please remember in future that submission should be neutral in their presentation as far(sic) as is possible"
And:
"Expressing your personal views should be reserved for the comments. Submissions are not journal entries. We try to make them factual, accurate and unbiased"
Maybe practice what you preach? Or is that too much to ask?