Musk requests US funds for Starlink network in Ukraine: Officials

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department has gotten a request from SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk to take over funding for his satellite tv for pc network that has offered essential battlefield communications for Ukrainian army forces throughout the war with Russia, U.S. officers stated Friday.

The officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate a delicate matter not but made public, stated the difficulty has been mentioned in conferences and senior leaders are weighing the matter. There have been no choices.

In an announcement later Friday, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh stated, “We can confirm the Department received correspondence from SpaceX about the funding of Starlink, their satellite communications product in Ukraine. We remain in communication with SpaceX about this and other topics.”

During a Pentagon briefing, she declined to offer any particulars in regards to the communication or say to whom the correspondence was despatched and when the communications with Musk started.

Musk’s Starlink system of greater than 2,200 low-orbiting satellites has offered broadband web to greater than 150,000 Ukrainian floor stations. Early Friday, Musk tweeted that it was costing SpaceX $20 million a month to assist Ukraine’s communications wants.

In addition to the terminals, he tweeted that the corporate has to create, launch, preserve and replenish satellites and floor stations.

CNN was the primary to report the Musk request.

The Starlink satellite tv for pc web’s important function in Ukraine’s protection can’t be overstated. It has, for instance, assisted front-line reconnaissance drone operators in focusing on artillery strikes on key Russian property. A senior army official on Friday made it clear that the U.S. believes the system has confirmed exceptionally efficient on the battlefield. The official spoke on situation of anonymity to offer U.S. evaluation of the Ukrainian battlefield.

In a tweet on Friday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak stated Ukraine will discover a answer to maintain Starlink working.

“Let’s be honest. Like it or not, @elonmusk helped us survive the most critical moments of war. Business has the right to its own strategies,” he tweeted. “We expect that the company will provide stable connection till the end of negotiations.”

In response to a number of questions throughout the briefing, Singh stated the Pentagon was working with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. “We know that there’s this demand, and (satellite tv for pc communications) functionality … is required and we wish to have the ability to be sure that there are secure communications for the Ukrainian forces and for Ukraine.”

The request from the world’s richest man to have the Pentagon take over the tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} he says the system is costing comes on the heels of a Twitter conflict between Musk and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And in tweets in a single day Musk referred to the friction, suggesting it might have an effect on his resolution to finish his firm’s largesse in funding the programs.

In a Twitter trade final week, Musk argued that to succeed in peace Russia must be allowed to maintain the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014. He additionally stated Ukraine ought to undertake a impartial standing, dropping a bid to affix NATO.

Musk additionally began a Twitter ballot asking whether or not “the will of the people” ought to determine if seized areas stay a part of Ukraine or turn out to be a part of Russia.

In a sarcastic response, Zelenskyy posted a Twitter ballot of his personal asking “which Elon Musk do you like more?”: “One who supports Ukraine” or “One who supports Russia.” Musk replied to Zelenskyy that “I still very much support Ukraine, but am convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world.”

Andrij Melnyk, the outgoing Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, responded to Musk’s authentic tweet with an obscenity.

It’s not clear how a lot of the price of deploying Starlink satellite tv for pc uplinks in Ukraine has been lined by U.S. funding. In April, the U.S. Agency for International Development stated it had delivered 5,000 of the terminals. The Pentagon had no response to that query.

Musk’s dedication to spend $44 billion to buy Twitter “has to factor into his decision that he can no longer afford to do this for free,” stated retired Army Maj. Gen. John Ferrari, a non-resident senior fellow on the American Enterprise Institute.

Musk’s request that the Pentagon start to select up the tab comes because the Space Force and Pentagon have been taking a look at how business distributors will play a job in nationwide safety. Musk’s menace to withdraw highlights the chance of leaning an excessive amount of on business capabilities, Ferrari stated.

“Commercial distributors all the time get to alter their thoughts, ” Ferrari stated, including that the reliance on Starlink to offer communications for Ukraine additionally serves as a reminder that the Pentagon has to increase this service past SpaceX, he stated.

“The government needs many vendors for key capabilities, of course that often means more money, but it is an insurance policy and insurance costs money,” Ferrari stated.

In March, commander of U.S. Space Command Army Gen. James Dickinson stated that having distributors present wanted capabilities, reminiscent of Maxar’s satellite tv for pc imagery of stalled Russian convoys, has turn out to be important, as a result of it frees up restricted army satellite tv for pc property to deal with different issues.

In his tweets, Musk additionally raised a query that varied distributors and the Pentagon are contemplating as house turns into a extra important a part of wartime operations: If a business vendor is helping the U.S. and is focused, does the U.S. owe it safety?

“We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder,” Musk tweeted.