Elon Musk‘s rocket manufacturing company SpaceX has reportedly bagged a Pentagon contract to expand Ukraine’s access to Starshield, a version of Starlink designed for government use.
What Happened: Under the contract, 2,500 Starlink terminals in Ukraine will get access to Starshield, Bloomberg reported on Saturday. Earlier, 500 Starlink terminals were connected to Starshield.
Starshield leverages SpaceX’s Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use.
Both the old contract covering 500 terminals and the new contract covering 2500 will provide service into 2025, the report said.
The value of the new contract is not known. However, the 500 terminal agreement from U.S. European Command was for roughly US$40 million, the report said.
Why It Matters: Musk’s Starlink continues to be key to Ukraine’s military despite the billionaire’s criticism of the war.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said during his campaign that he would bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine which started in February 2022. Musk is now a close ally of Trump.
Musk himself has previously slammed the war, terming it a path to Ukraine’s decline.
“Ukraine will most likely decline, because NATO won't let them stop the war yet. That allows Putin to tell the Russian people that he offered peace and it was refused, so there is no choice but to ramp up the war,” Musk said in May.
Starlink continues to be used by the military in Ukraine despite Musk saying that it is a commercial system and not a military one. Last month, Musk termed Starlink a “major factor” for Russia not overrunning Ukraine.
“Starlink is the BACKBONE of Ukrainian military communications at the front lines, because everything else has been blown up or jammed by Russia,” he then said.
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Photo courtesy: SpaceX
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