Tech billionaire Elon Musk is spending $20 million a month supplying Ukraine with internet access through his Starlink satellite system. The system has proved to be invaluable to the war effort and to civilians who had not had access to the internet previously.
But Musk now says it’s just too expensive to maintain the system, and he wants the Pentagon to pick up the tab.
Musk launched and maintains the Starlink system through his company, Space X. Recently, Russia has worked hard at preventing the devices from connecting to the satellite with catastrophic results. The outages have occurred in front-line areas where communication is vital.
“That has affected every effort of the Ukrainians to push past that front,” said one person familiar with the outages who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity. “Starlink is the main way units on the battlefield have to communicate.”
Most Starlink terminals were donated by Musk or purchased by the Pentagon. Musk wants the U.S. government to buy any new units.
SpaceX’s suggestion it will stop funding Starlink also comes amid rising concern in Ukraine over Musk’s allegiance. Musk recently tweeted a controversial peace plan that would have Ukraine give up Crimea and control over the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky raised the question of who Musk sides with, he responded that he “still very much support[s] Ukraine” but fears “massive escalation.”
Musk also argued privately last month that Ukraine doesn’t want peace negotiations right now and that if they went along with his plan, “Russia would accept those terms,” according to a person who heard them.
Musk has raised the hackles of the Ukrainian government by proposing a peace plan that includes Ukraine dropping its claims on Crimea and scheduling an UN-backed referendum in some of the disputed regions. The American right and the Ukrainian government squealed like stuck pigs, with one Ukrainian official telling Musk to “F**k off.”
But the reality is, the only way Russia is going to deal is if they get something in return. This isn’t 1919 and the Treaty of Versailles where the world humiliated Germany so completely that it led directly to Hitler and another war. It’s very brave to talk about not “rewarding” aggressors, but some allowance must be given to an aggressor with nuclear weapons.
Or we can all stand on “principle” and admire the mushroom-shaped cloud billowing in the distance.
Musk may be a putz about war and peace, but the guy has created an incredible system that in the next few years is going to revolutionize communications — not so much in the developed world but in the third world. Internet and phone service will be available for the first time in almost every corner of the planet.
The official asked the Department of Defense to pick up Ukraine’s new request as well as ongoing service costs, totaling $124 million for the remainder of 2022.
Those costs, according to the senior defense official, would reach almost $380 million for a full year.
You’d think the Pentagon could cut Musk a little slack.
The far more expensive part, however, is the ongoing connectivity. SpaceX says it has paid for about 70% of the service provided to Ukraine and claims to have offered that highest level – $4,500 a month – to all terminals in Ukraine despite the majority only having signed on for the cheaper $500 per month service.
The terminals themselves cost $1500 and $2500 for the two models sent to Ukraine, the documents say, while consumer models on Starlink’s website are far cheaper and service in Ukraine is just $60 per month.
That’s just 1.3% of the service rate SpaceX says it needs the Pentagon to start paying.
Musk is likely to get something from the Pentagon. The system is just too valuable to the Ukrainian war effort not to fund it.
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