The Defence Department has gotten a request from SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk to take over funding for his satellite network that has provided crucial battlefield communications for Ukrainian military forces during the war with Russia, a US official said.
Replying about the same on a Twitter thread, Musk wrote, "In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to the Internet via gateways. We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder. Burn is approaching ~$20M/month."
Elon Musk has asked Pentagon to foot a bill of 20 million dollars per month for his satellite network that has provided crucial battlefield communications for Ukrainian military forces amid the ongoing war.
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A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter not yet made public, said the issue has been discussed in meetings and senior leaders are weighing the matter. There have been no decisions.
A Pentagon spokesperson said the Pentagon has been "in touch with SpaceX" regarding the Starlink system but declined to answer whether a letter was received or provide any details about the communication and whether it involved the pay issue.
Musk's Starlink system of more than 2,200 low-orbiting satellites has provided broadband internet to more than 150,000 Ukrainian ground stations. Early Friday, Musk tweeted that it was costing SpaceX $20 million a month to support Ukraine's communications needs.
In addition to the terminals, he tweeted that the company has to create, launch, maintain and replenish satellites and ground stations.
CNN was the first to report the Musk request.
The Starlink satellite internet's vital role in Ukraine's defence cannot be overstated. It has, for example, assisted front-line reconnaissance drone operators in targeting artillery strikes on key Russian assets.
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The request from the world's richest man to have the Pentagon take over the hundreds of millions of dollars he says the system is costing comes on the heels of a Twitter war between Musk and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And in tweets overnight Musk referred to the friction, suggesting it may affect his decision to end his company's largesse in funding the systems.
In a Twitter exchange last week, Musk argued that to reach peace Russia should be allowed to keep the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014. He also said Ukraine should adopt a neutral status, dropping a bid to join NATO.
Musk also started a Twitter poll asking whether 'the will of the people' should decide if seized regions remain part of Ukraine or become part of Russia.
It's not clear how much of the cost of deploying Starlink satellite uplinks in Ukraine has been covered by US Funding. In April, the US Agency for International Development said it had delivered 5,000 of the terminals. The Pentagon had no response to that question.
Musk's request that the Pentagon begin to pick up the tab comes as the Space Force and Pentagon have been looking at how commercial vendors will play a role in national security.
(With PTI inputs)
