Elon Musk’s SpaceX has secured US funding to provide satellite internet to the Ukrainian military, as its founder dropped his doubts about how the company’s terminals would be deployed in a major conflict.
The Defense Department has agreed to buy Starlink terminals from Musk, but has not disclosed how much it will buy or how much it will pay for the service.
musk has complained earlier SpaceX earns so little money from various contracts that at least 20,000 terminals are used for civilian, humanitarian and military purposes.
While the total number of terminals is unknown, hundreds are destroyed in combat each month and need to be replaced. SpaceX is expected to receive funding from the Ukrainian Security Assistance Program, which has funded weapons purchases and training to modernize Ukrainian forces as they fight Russian forces.
“Satellite communications form an important layer of Ukraine’s overall communications network, and the ministry contracted Starlink for such services,” the Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday.
At the public request of the Ukrainian minister, Musk granted access to SpaceX’s low-orbit satellites in Ukraine in late February 2022. But he has since been silent on the costs and complications of continuing the service.
Since the start of the war, various terminals have flowed into the country, some donated by SpaceX, purchased by Ukrainian allies such as Poland and the United Kingdom, and others crowdfunded by backers. Pricing depends on a variety of factors, including whether the terminals are for civilian or military use, people familiar with the contracts said.
The units, which attach small antennas to 35-centimeter-tall terminals, allow the Ukrainian military to run data-intensive drone surveillance and maintain front-line communications. They also provide internet service to civilians in newly liberated parts of the country, where telecommunications services may have been disrupted.
But Musk has made clear to his Twitter followers that he is concerned about the role his terminal plays in the conflict. In October, some soldiers on the frontline reported “catastrophic” internet connectivity outages, especially as they fought off Russian troops in the south and east of the country, according to the Financial Times.
The Pentagon has not released any other information about the contract, which has been under discussion as far back as October. Musk had asked the Pentagon for financial support in response to a request from the Ukrainian defense minister for about 8,000 terminals, CNN reports then.