According to CNN that the Pentagon is irritated because the US as well as other governments contribute to the Starlink access, which is contrary to the claims of SpaceX in the past.
SpaceX might have to stop the supply of Starlink terminals for Ukraine until the US government takes action to cover the cost SpaceX writes an email sent to Pentagon.
In the report by CNN(Opens in an entirely New open), SpaceX wrote to the US Defense Department on Sept. 8 asking for the US government begin paying for Starlink access to Ukraine which is now vital to aiding Ukraine’s military battle Russian forces.
“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” SpaceX has reportedly informed the Pentagon.
Elon Musk seemed to confirm the reports of CNN on Twitter. In an tweet(Opens in an entirely fresh screen) on Friday Musk claimed that the SpaceX CEO claimed that SpaceX been forced to shell out thousands of dollars to operate its Starlink program in Ukraine in addition to defending against attacks from Russia. “Burn is approaching ~$20M/month,” the SpaceX CEO said.
One user of Twitter has also pointed out it was true that SpaceX request was made following an incident in which an Ukrainian diplomat told(Opens in an entirely brand new tab) Musk to “f*** off” after Musk suggested a peace plan for the war , which many believed was pro-Russian. In the rebuttal, Musk tweeted(Opens in a new window) in response: “We’re just following his recommendation.”
This month Musk has also tweeted(Opens in an entirely fresh window) that Starlink remains a loss in financial terms for SpaceX. “Should be not forgotten that Starlink is far from being cash-flow positive. The majority of LEO (low-Earth in orbit) communications satellites have been bankrupt, therefore any assistance is extremely helpful.”
However the CNN report states that US or foreign-owned governments provide a significant portion of the Starlink access in Ukraine, despite Musk’s statements in the past. SpaceX’s letter to the Pentagon last month was reported to have stated that approximately 85% of the 20000 Starlink satellites in Ukraine were either paid for or partly paid for by countries such as those of the US, Poland, UK as well as other groups including NGOs and other charitable organisations. The same government and organizations provided 30% of the internet connectivity to Starlink across Ukraine.
In response to CNN’s story, some charity workers from Ukraine have posted(Opens within a brand new tab) via Twitter that people in the area Ukrainian civilians and troops are paying for Starlink access throughout the country. This is not SpaceX.
The company SpaceX has informed the Pentagon that it will need to contribute more than $120 million to finance Starlink access to Ukraine throughout the remainder of this year. It is expected that the US will also have pay around $400 million to ensure Starlink access in Ukraine over the next 12 months.
The issue is that Musk’s personal stance on the conflict. SpaceX’s CEO has said that he is in favor of Ukraine but he is also concerned that the war with Russia could escalate into nuclear conflict if fighting escalates. This led Musk to propose the idea of peace on Twitter that was widely viewed as pro-Kremlin as it would require Ukraine surrendering the disputed area of Crimea in exchange for Russia.
In the meantime, Ukrainian soldiers have encountered issues while using Starlink in areas reclaimed by Russian forces, as reported by the Financial Times. The problems could be caused by SpaceX’s geo-restrictions on Starlink but it seems that the outages have ceased(Opens in new window) currently.
