The Reuters news agency reported that SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) Ilona Mask allegedly took steps to prevent the Ukrainian military from using the Starlink satellite Internet service to control unmanned vehicles in the region during the war with Russia. This was announced on February 8, 2023 by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.
A serviceman of the 80th separate amphibious assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the antenna of the SpaceX Starlink satellite Internet service terminal on the front line near Kremennaya, 06.01.2023 (c) Clodagh Kilcoyne / ReutersSpaceX's Starlink satellite Internet service, which provided the Ukrainian military with broadband to protect against the Russian military, "was never intended to be used as a weapon," Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said during a conference in Washington, DC.
"However, the Ukrainians used it in a way that was unauthorized and was not part of any [licensing] agreement," she said.
Later, in an interview with reporters, Shotwell referred to reports that the Ukrainian military used the Starlink service to control drones.
Ukraine has effectively used unmanned aerial vehicles to detect enemy positions, conduct long-range fire and drop bombs.
"There are things we can do to limit their capabilities," she said, referring to using Starlink with drones. - "There are things we can do, and we have already done."
Shotwell declined to say what measures SpaceX had taken.
According to Shotwell, the use of Starlink with drones is beyond the scope of SpaceX's agreement with the Ukrainian government, adding that the contract was intended for humanitarian purposes, such as providing broadband Internet access to hospitals, banks and families affected by the Russian invasion.
"We know that the military uses it for communication, and this is normal," she said. "But we never wanted them to use it for offensive purposes."
SpaceX privately sent trucks with Starlink terminals to Ukraine, which allowed the Ukrainian military to keep in touch by connecting them and connecting them to almost 4,000 satellites that SpaceX has already launched into low Earth orbit.
A number of governments, including the United States and France, have paid for other deliveries of Starlink terminals to Ukraine, in addition to those privately funded by SpaceX.
Russia tried to drown out Starlink signals in the region, although SpaceX in response modified the software of the service, said the company's executive director Elon Musk.
When asked whether SpaceX expected the use of Starlink for offensive purposes in Ukraine when deciding on the delivery of terminals to conflict zones, Shotwell replied: "We didn't think about it. I didn't think about it. Our Starlink specialists may have thought about it, I do not know. But we figured it out pretty quickly."
At the end of last year, Starlink in Ukraine had service interruptions for reasons that SpaceX did not explain.
Asked if these failures were related to SpaceX's efforts to deter the use of Starlink for offensive purposes, Shotwell said: "I don't want to answer it because I'm not sure I know the answer."
bmpd comment. Starlink terminals were reliably used to control the well-known exploding boats, which the Ukrainian side repeatedly tried to attack ships of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy in the fall of 2022, and may be used in UAVs and barrage ammunition being developed in Ukraine. As already noted, the use of Starlink broadband services and the like opens up an era of mass use of all kinds of unmanned and unmanned vehicles (including shock) with an almost unlimited range in the control system, as well as the possibility of installing terminals on almost all military vehicles.
One can express doubt that SpaceX will really prevent the use of the Starlink service to control UAVs, and, most likely, its current statements in this regard are purely declarative in nature, and may be caused by the desire to indicate in advance the "non-involvement" of the company in relation to possible attacks of Ukrainian UAVs with control via Starlink on the Russian territories.
jpg">
Unmanned exploding boats manufactured in Ukraine, reportedly equipped to control the terminal of the Starlink system, with a flat-panel antenna clearly visible in the aft part from above (c) the press service of the President of Ukraine
