- A Starlink outage meant 24 unmanned vessels were left floating in the water for almost an hour, according to a report.
- PakGazette says previous incidents with unstable network connectivity highlight concerns with Starlink and drone control
- However, one autonomous warfare expert observed: “Such vulnerabilities are accepted because of the benefits gained from ubiquity.” [Starlink] provides.”
Testing of the US Navy’s unmanned vessels has apparently exposed weaknesses in terms of reliance on Starlink for network connectivity with these unmanned vessels.
PakGazette reports that in tests that took place in August last year, about 24 of these drones, which look like speedboats without seats, were left floating listlessly in the water off the coast of California for almost an hour, due to a global outage that affected the Starlink broadband network.
This worrying incident, and others where poor network connectivity had proven problematic for US drone operations, were highlighted by an anonymous source and in internal Navy documents seen by PakGazette.
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An intermittent network connection had proven problematic in tests conducted in the weeks leading up to the August outage. On top of that, we’re told that in April 2025, Navy testing involving these unmanned ships (and aerial drones as well) was halted as Starlink “struggled to provide a robust network connection” given the large bandwidth needed due to the number of ships involved.
PakGazette noted that the Navy report said: “Starlink reliance exposed limitations under multi-vehicle loading.” (Starlink wasn’t the only point of failure here, however, as there were other issues with the radios used and a network system provided by Viasat.)
The Pentagon declined to respond to questions about drone testing, and the US Navy and SpaceX declined to comment when contacted by PakGazette.
Analysis: space
Clearly, this is a worrying report and raises questions about whether the US military should look at alternatives to using Starlink to control drones (or even to track missiles). The problem is: what are those alternatives? Of course, nothing on the scale of what Elon Musk’s SpaceX can offer.
Starlink is, as PakGazette points out, a cheap, commercially available service, packed with an array of about 10,000 satellites in low Earth orbit. The report quotes Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who said: “If Starlink did not exist, the US government would not have access to a global communications constellation in low Earth orbit.”
Regarding the observed network weakness, Bryan Clark, an autonomous warfare expert at the Hudson Institute, added: “You accept those vulnerabilities because of the benefits you get from their ubiquity.” [Starlink] provides.”
The online arguments then go like this: well, the US government should build its own satellite system. Of course, that’s much easier said than done, and not just from a financial perspective, because SpaceX has a key logistical advantage in terms of its capabilities to launch satellites into orbit in a timely manner.
Just look at Amazon, which is currently engaged in building its Starlink rival, Leo. This satellite internet service was supposed to be available in late 2025, but it won’t be until mid-2026 (whether that means consumers or not is still unclear).
As Engadget recently reported, Amazon aimed to have 1,600 satellites in orbit by July 2026, and now expects Leo to comprise less than half (about 700) by then. It currently has 241 operational satellites, a drop in an ocean full of drones compared to Starlink, and of course it remains to be seen if that downwardly revised target of 700 by mid-2026 is met.
So you get the point about limited options here. Although that doesn’t mean the US government can’t investigate other ways forward in terms of much longer-term planning, because clearly these types of systems need to be robust and reliable when it comes to using them outside of testing.
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