Ukraine has gained access to the Starshield satellite communications network, a secure military version of Starlink. The deal was made possible by a contract between the Pentagon and SpaceX, Bloomberg reports.
This second deal involves connecting the 2,500 Starlink terminals already in place in Ukraine to the Starshield system, which uses an encrypted signal that makes it resistant to hacking or jamming. This number is added to the 500 terminals that were already connected to Starshield earlier. According to the Commercial Satellite Directorate of the US Space Systems Command, both contracts are aimed at improving access to Internet communications in Ukraine and will provide services through 2025.
The contract was signed back in August, but the information was not disclosed until now. The value of the contract was also not disclosed, but the previous contract, which included 500 terminals for the US European Command, was valued at approximately $40 million.
Starlink and Ukraine
The contract was signed before Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 US presidential election, amid efforts by current President Joe Biden to increase military assistance to Ukraine. Biden wants to give Ukraine more leverage in case Trump pressures Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate with russia to end the war. The future of US aid to Ukraine and SpaceX's role in it is uncertain, as Trump also plans to significantly reduce it after his inauguration.
Elon Musk, despite his support for Ukraine through Starlink, has repeatedly made controversial statements about the war. In 2022, he threatened to stop funding Starlink for Ukraine, emphasizing that the company could not cover the costs indefinitely, and expressed fears of escalation.
In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk has been in regular contact with russian President Vladimir Putin since 2022. Musk himself denied the accusations and noted that his companies "have done more to weaken russia than anything else."
After winning the US presidential election, Trump decided to appoint American entrepreneur Elon Musk as co-chairman of the Government Performance Advisory Department. According to Trump, the new department should eradicate massive waste.
The use of Starlink in the war also caught China's attention. The latest annual report of the US-China Economic and Security Commission, established by Congress, notes the effectiveness of this satellite network in providing communications to the Ukrainian army. Ukraine does not disclose the exact number of Starlink terminals in operation today, but according to Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, the government had contracted for 47,000 terminals before the russian invasion of Ukraine. As of May 2022, Ukraine had received an additional 10,000.
Starshield: what kind of system it is?
SpaceX states on its website that the system focuses on three key areas: satellite imagery, communications, and "embedded payloads" - the ability to use SpaceX satellites as a universal platform.
The system provides a full range of national security services: from building ground antennas and satellites, to launching them on SpaceX rockets, to managing the network in space.
Starshield uses advanced encryption to process classified data and has a laser communication capability between satellites. The system can also integrate with other government or enterprise networks through dedicated terminals.
