Update, Oct. 15, 5:57 PM EDT: In a tweet early Saturday afternoon, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that the satellite-based ISP Starlink will continue to provide internet services to Ukrainian forces fighting the Russian invasion, as well as to the country’s government. “The hell with it… even though Starlink is still losing money and other companies are getting billions of taxpayers, we will just continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free,” Musk tweeted.
Original story: SpaceX has asked the Pentagon to fund the use of Starlink broadband by the Ukrainian government and military, saying the Elon Musk-led company cannot afford to donate more user terminals or pay for operations indefinitely. reported CNN.
“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals indefinitely,” SpaceX’s director of government sales to the Pentagon wrote in a September letter, according to CNN. The letter “asked the Pentagon to take over funding for the Ukrainian government and military’s use of Starlink, which SpaceX said would cost more than $120 million for the rest of the year and could reach nearly $400 million in the next 12 months.” cost.”
Musk defended the request today. “SpaceX is not asking to recoup past costs, nor can it fund the existing system indefinitely and send several thousand additional terminals with data usage up to 100x greater than average households. This is unreasonable”, he wrote on Twitter.
The CNN article said that “about 20,000 Starlink satellite units have been donated to Ukraine” and that the Ukrainian military requested 8,000 more in July.
Musk: Operation Cost SpaceX $80 Million
SpaceX’s Starlink division sent satellite terminals to Ukraine after the Russian invasion of the country disrupted broadband networks, and the internet access has been useful in Ukraine’s military operations against Russian forces. The US initially provided $3 million for the effort.
Musk wrote last week that “only a small percentage” of Starlink terminals and service was paid for by outside sources and that “Operation SpaceX cost $80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year.”
According to CNN’s article, the SpaceX letter to the Pentagon said that “about 85 percent of the 20,000 terminals in Ukraine were paid for — or in part — paid for by countries like the US and Poland or other entities. Those entities also paid for about 30 percent of the money.” percent of Internet connectivity, which SpaceX estimates costs $4,500 per month per unit for the most advanced service.”
The figure of $4,500 per month seems to refer to the typical fee for that level of service, rather than SpaceX’s actual cost to provide it.
“SpaceX says it has paid about 70 percent of its service to Ukraine and claims to have offered that highest tier — $4,500 per month — to all terminals in Ukraine, despite the majority only signing up for the cheaper service. of $500 a month.” CNN wrote. “The terminals themselves will cost $1,500 and $2,500 for the two models shipped to Ukraine, the documents say, while consumer models on Starlink’s website are much cheaper and the service in Ukraine is just $60 a month.”
SpaceX request “ranked” Pentagon brass
The funding request appears to have sparked a conflict between SpaceX and the Pentagon. SpaceX’s request to let the US military foot the bill has left the Pentagon confused, with a senior defense official telling CNN that SpaceX ‘has the audacity to look like heroes’ while others pay so much and give them now bills tens of millions a month,” CNN wrote.
The Pentagon took a more measured tone in public. “I can confirm that the department has been in contact with SpaceX regarding Starlink,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said, according to the Financial Times. “We’re working with our partners and allies to find out what’s best.”
“There are definitely other Satcom options out there,” she also said. “There’s not just SpaceX, there are other entities that we can definitely work with when it comes to providing Ukraine with what they need on the battlefield.”
On October 3, after Musk wrote a controversial tweet propose conditions for peace between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian diplomat Andrij Melnyk told Musk to “fuck off”. While SpaceX’s letter to the Pentagon was sent months before that Twitter exchange, Musk replied today to a journalist who suggested the funding request and linked Melnyk’s tweet to Musk. “We’re just following his recommendation,” Musk said wrote.
Melnyk’s Twitter profile says he is Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany. But he was fired from that position in July, “a week after the diplomat gave an interview defending the legacy of a World War II nationalist leader who collaborated with the Nazis,” The New York Times reported at the time.
Some Ukrainians pay for Starlink themselves
Amid the funding dispute, some Ukrainians are tweeting about how they and Ukrainian soldiers paid for Starlink service themselves.
“All Starlinks I’ve seen/used have been bought by volunteers like myself, or soldiers have put their personal money into them. The subscription price is also paid out of pocket. In my @dzygaspaw charitable fund, I’ve bought and delivered to the front lines over 50 Starlinks, some are still paid with my credit card, now $60 a month,” Dimko Zhluktenko wrote.
CNN’s article on the SpaceX letter to the Pentagon said there have been “widespread Starlink outages as Ukrainian forces attempt to retake Russian-occupied territory in the eastern and southern parts of the country.”
“That affects any attempt by the Ukrainians to cross that front,” CNN quoted a source as saying. “Starlink is the primary way for units to communicate on the battlefield.”
