"The White List: The Pentagon has come up with a way to limit the illegal use of Starlink by Russians

The Pentagon acknowledged that traditional methods of blocking Russians' access to Starlink were not working, so they came up with the so-called "white list".

Here's What We Know

The Pentagon is planning to consider various approaches to solving the problem of Starlink use in the Russian army. According to Pentagon spokesman John Gill, the standard methods used to block terminals have not proved effective due to Russia's active purchase of new devices. All of this resembles a game of "hit the mole" - one blocked terminal is replaced by another.

It also turned out that the method of disabling terminals by coordinates was unacceptable because of the risk of disabling Ukrainian terminals. Russia has already developed a fairly easy scheme to get a working Starlink: rashists buy a terminal through intermediaries in third countries and pay for the service using a card that is not issued by a Russian bank.

It is worth noting that such a terminal works only in the occupied Ukrainian territories and not even in Russia.

The most effective control tool would be to introduce a "white list" of Starlink terminals, which would determine which devices can operate in Ukraine and the occupied territories. This will allow blocking access to the network for unwanted users. Although it is not yet clear whether this method will be implemented, according to a Pentagon spokesperson, a strategy has already been developed.

SpaceX is actively cooperating with Ukrainian and American representatives in this area. This is important because the problem of the illegal use of Starlink by Russian forces goes beyond the war in Ukraine and extends even to Africa.

Source: Defence One