Ukraine’s fears that its troops could lose access to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service deepened last week after 1,300 military satellite units went offline, according to two sources familiar with the outage.
Small, easy-to-use satellite dishes made by Musk’s private rocket company SpaceX have been universally hailed as a revolutionary communication source for Ukraine’s military, allowing them to fight and stay online even when telephone networks cell phone and internet were destroyed during the war with Russia.
But concerns have recently increased over SpaceX’s reliability after discussions over funding were revealed and disruptions were reported near the front lines.
THE CNN first reported that SpaceX sent a letter in September to the Pentagon claiming it had spent nearly $100 million funding Starlink in Ukraine and could no longer continue to do so. The letter urged the Defense Department to assume more of the funding for Ukraine’s armed forces, which it calculated would cost tens of millions of dollars a month.
Days after the report of CNN Musk appeared to reverse course, claiming that SpaceX had withdrawn the order.
“Whatever!” tweeted Musk, “we will continue to fund the government of Ukraine for free.”
Negotiations between SpaceX and the Department of Defense continue despite Musk’s claim that SpaceX has withdrawn its order, according to a senior defense official.
“Negotiations are ongoing. Everyone in our building knows we’re going to pay them,” the top Pentagon official told reporters. CNN adding that the department is eager to have written commitments “because we fear he will change his mind.”
On Wednesday, Musk attended a ceremony for the US Space Force, which also included Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Musk was also involved in its controversial acquisition of Twitter.
Neither Musk nor SpaceX responded to a request for comment. The Ukrainian government, including the Defense Ministry, did not immediately respond.
The recent outage began on 24 October and was described by a person briefed on the situation as a “huge problem” for Ukraine’s military. The terminals were disconnected, this person said, due to lack of funding.
The outage affected a block of 1,300 terminals that Ukraine bought from a British company in March and were used for combat-related operations.
SpaceX was charging Ukraine’s military $2,500 a month to keep each of the 1,300 units connected, bringing the total cost to nearly $20 million by September, the person familiar with the matter said. Eventually, they could no longer pay, the person said.
a british request
Before the terminals went completely dark, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense placed an order in early October to its British counterparts to receive the monthly bill for $3.25 million. The batch of terminals was also switched as concerns grew that the service could be shut down in order to minimize the impact, the source said.
A British official said that after discussions between ministries, “it was agreed that there were higher priority military capabilities”. Among many other channels of support, the UK has been sending thousands of Ukrainian soldiers to Britain for training before returning to the front lines.
“We support a number of terminals that have a direct tactical utility for the Ukrainian military to repel the Russian invasion,” the British official told CNN.
“We consider and prioritize all new requests in terms of the impact the contributions would have on supporting Ukraine to defend its people against Putin’s deplorable invasion.”
A senior Ukrainian official confirmed the disruption, calling Starlink units “very important” to Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
SpaceX’s September letter to the Pentagon said there were nearly 20,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine. At that time, by SpaceX’s own admission, most of them were purchased in whole or in part with external funding, including from the US, Polish and UK governments. The letter claimed that these sources paid around 30% of the monthly connectivity bill as well.
The terminals, which include small satellite dishes, connect to SpaceX’s constellation of Earth-orbiting satellites and not only keep troops and civilians online, but have also been used to lethal effect, proving critical to the use of drones and artillery in Ukraine.
It is unclear exactly how many terminals Ukraine’s military is operating, but the 1,300 that it recently closed represent a significant portion. In July, the country’s commander-in-chief wrote directly to Musk asking for more, in a letter seen by CNN saying that approximately 4,000 were sent by the military.
Earlier this month, Musk said that of the more than 25,000 terminals now in Ukraine, fewer than 11,000 were paying for the service, which can run as high as $4,500 a month.
On Monday, a Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on potential contracts or agreements, but said negotiations were ongoing.
“We continue to discuss Ukraine’s satellite communication needs with Ukraine and companies like SpaceX and others,” Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters.
Whether greater cooperation with SpaceX would give the US government stronger control over the Starlink signal in Ukraine has not been answered. SpaceX currently controls where Ukraine’s Starlink terminals can be used and outages were previously reported by Ukrainian units near the front as they advanced and liberated Russian-held areas.
As a result, Musk’s control of the signal gives him significant influence on the battlefield at a time when he is under heavy criticism for arguing that Ukraine should sue for peace and give up part of its territory.
Source: CNN Brasil
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