Pentagon signs agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to supply Starlink terminals to Ukraine
In December, the US Department of Defense announced a funding package for the purchase of terminals and satellite communications services for the Ukrainian military, and now it is clarifying that SpaceX has been awarded the contract.
“We continue to work with a number of global partners to provide sustainable satellite and communications capabilities for Ukraine. We have signed a contract with Starlink, but for security reasons, we do not disclose additional information on specific capabilities, contracts, or partners,” the Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday.
This is a turning point in the controversial relationship between the Pentagon and Elon Musk. In October, the billionaire sent a letter on behalf of SpaceX, in which he wrote that the company could no longer continue to finance Starlink service in Ukraine as before and asked the Pentagon to take over funding for Ukrainian government and military use of Starlink.
According to SpaceX’s calculations, support for Starlink’s operation in Ukraine at that time was to cost more than $120 million by the end of the year and approach $400 million by 2023.
Due to uncertainty over funding, 1,300 Starlink terminals were shut down in Ukraine in October.
That same month, Musk proposed a “peace plan” that he believed could stop the war. The businessman’s proposal demanded that Ukraine remain neutral (refuse to join NATO), hold elections in the Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia, and give up Crimea in favor of the aggressor.
“This is very likely to be the outcome, but the question is how many more people will die before then. It’s worth noting that a possible, though unlikely, outcome of this conflict could be a nuclear war,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
In a new tweet in February, Elon criticized the use of Starlink terminals for military operations, and later it turned out that SpaceX had taken unspecified actions to prevent the Ukrainian military from using satellite internet to control drones on the battlefield. At a conference in Washington, D.C., Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said that the Starlink service was “never intended to be used as a weapon.”
“The Ukrainians used it in a way that was not foreseen and was not part of any agreement,” Shotwell said.
As for the relationship between Musk and the Pentagon, SpaceX has long established “close ties” in the Department, breaking the duopoly of the largest defense contractors and winning contracts to launch the most sensitive US national security satellites. But relations with the White House have been tense, with the eccentric Musk urging Americans to vote Republican and once ridiculing President Joe Biden as a puppet in human form.
Last week, Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, joined Musk in launching his presidential campaign in a problematic Twitter broadcast. In November, Biden himself said that Musk’s relations with other countries are “worthy of careful study.”
