The Pentagon Thursday said it’s awarded a contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX to ship Starlink satellite internet terminals to Ukraine.
“Satellite communications constitute a vital layer in Ukraine’s overall communications network and the department contracts with Starlink for services of this type,” the Pentagon said in a statement to CNBC.
The Pentagon refused to share any details about the contract, and it’s not clear how many terminals will be purchased. “For operational security reasons and due to the critical nature of these systems — we do not have additional information regarding specific capabilities, contracts or partners to provide at this time,” the Pentagon said.
SpaceX began shipping thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine shortly after the Russian invasion, and the internet service is said to have been vital for Ukraine’s war effort, both for communication and helping with targeting.
Earlier this year, the president of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell, said the Starlink terminals were never meant to be “weaponized,” referring to reports of Ukraine using Starlink to acquire targeting data with drones. Shotwell said that SpaceX took steps to “limit” Ukraine’s ability to use the internet service in that way.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said it was cooperating with SpaceX to get Starlink terminals to Ukraine in the early days of the war. Last fall, Musk said that SpaceX couldn’t continue paying for the service for Ukraine and asked the Pentagon to foot the bill.
As of October 2022, SpaceX donated 20,000 terminals to Ukraine. Musk said at the time that it cost his company “$80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year.”
Oh no, Nuland, Blinken, Biden, Sullivan and now Elon.
It’s the end of the world.
“SpaceX Lands Pentagon Contract for Starlink Terminals for Ukraine At least 20,000 Starlink terminals have been shipped to Ukraine so far”
It is time for Russia to use Anti Satellite weapons to sweep the sky of Starlink satellites.
IN fact, they might also take out any Western spy satellites as well.
Creative thinking CT?…
At the end of such an exercise, there would be fewer “Western” satellites in orbit.
And no Russian satellites in orbit.
Which is why Putin wouldn’t even consider trying such an idiotic stunt.
My understanding is that the US has a slight advantage over the Russians in satellite surveillance. If that’s true, then wiping out both US and Russian satellites would harm the Russians less than it would harm the United States. Still, I don’t think Putin would do it.
That’s the thing, though: At present, the US has more than 3,400 satellites in orbit, while Russia has about 170.
A stunt like that proposed by CT would leave the Russians with neither any satellites nor any remaining launch facilities for anti-satellite weapons, before the number of US satellites was even reduced to the same order of magnitude as the pre-stunt Russian max.
It wouldn’t be as suicidal as going nuclear, but it would be at least as stupid as, while far less harmful to the US than, going nuclear.
A few years ago, China demonstrated a “stunt” by shooting down one of its satellites.
Yeah, Anglo-American empire doesn’t have such capabilities. Chinese and Russians do.
You little chest thumping here is just as pointless as your “Reaper” drone or your “Patriot” air-defense system.
Russians were first in space. They are The Top nation in space tech and your space junk doesn’t qualify as satellites.
I don’t have any Reaper drones or Patriot air-defense systems. I think someone in the household has one of this little tiny hand-held quad-copter drones, and I’ve got one shotgun, one rifle, and one pistol.
The Russians have some decent space tech. That doesn’t change the fact that the number of satellites they have in orbit is an order of magnitude fewer than the number the US has, or the fact that the US is just as capable of taking down Russian satellites as Russia is of taking down US satellites.
For all your bragging on how great Russia is, you constantly (and presumably accidentally) reveal that you think Russian military planners are fucking idiots. I don’t think they’re fucking idiots, which is why I predict they won’t try something so fucking idiotic.
That’s pro-war.
Sounds like the days of Musk donating his “toys” to the cause is over.
Just another small sign that the trend is going towards recalcitrance in regards to never-ending Ukraine support.
They have this summer to accomplish something because their unending support is getting tenous.
Tenuous to you.
Free internet for Ukraine paid by US taxpayers…!
Y’all got a typo in the first sentence. Fyi
I hope Musk isn’t too butthurt when his satellite links are shot out of the sky. If any other weaponized Western birds just happen to be damaged in the process, it’s just collateral damage.
Not gonna happen. The Russians want to keep their satellites, and in a tit for tat satellite destroying contest, they’d be down to zero long before the US was down to what the Russians originally had.
It’s amazing what in some ways a civil war among slavs has become in some people’s minds a tipping point into a stars wars exchange or a fight over Europe and Ukraine is just stopping the advance to DC.
Every generation needs a upcoming catastrophic world event to “fight” I guess and some tend to embellish with hyperbolic doom and gloom.
I just can’t wait for the Chinese to loan the Russians a bunch of money for the rebuild and we get to read in the Russian press about how the Chinese are buying up Russian land and it’s all Putin’s fault in that colorful language of the Russian press that kind of reminds me of our press a hundred years ago that did not try to lie about biases.
He doesn’t care as long as he gets paid. That pretty much was his aim from the start.