Elon Musk’s rejection on Ukraine’s Starlink request raises questions

SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s refusal to permit Ukraine to make use of Starlink web companies to launch a shock assault on Russian forces in Crimea final September has raised questions as as to if the US army must be extra specific in future contracts that companies or merchandise it purchases may very well be utilized in struggle, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall stated on Monday.

Excerpts of a brand new biography of Musk printed by The Washington Post final week revealed that the Ukrainians in September 2022 had requested for Starlink assist to assault Russian naval vessels based mostly on the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Musk had refused as a result of considerations that Russia would launch a nuclear assault in response. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and claims it as its territory.

Musk was not on a army contract when he refused the Crimea request. He had been offering terminals to Ukraine without cost in response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion. However, within the months since, the US army has funded and formally contracted with Starlink for continued assist. The Pentagon has not disclosed the phrases or price of that contract, citing operational safety.

But the Pentagon is reliant on SpaceX for way over the Ukraine response, and the uncertainty that Musk or some other business vendor might refuse to supply companies in a future battle has led area methods army planners to rethink what must be explicitly specified by future agreements, Kendall stated throughout a roundtable with reporters on the Air Force Association conference at National Harbor, Maryland, on Monday.

“If we’re going to rely upon commercial architectures or commercial systems for operational use, then we have to have some assurances that they’re going to be available,” Kendall stated. “We have to have that. Otherwise, they are a convenience and maybe an economy in peacetime, but they’re not something we can rely upon in wartime.”

SpaceX additionally has the contract to assist the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command develop a rocket ship that might rapidly transfer army cargo right into a battle zone or catastrophe zone, which might alleviate the army’s reliance on slower plane or ships. While not specifying SpaceX, Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, stated, “American industry has to be clear-eyed on the full spectrum of what it can be used for.”

As US army funding in area has elevated lately, considerations have revolved round tips on how to indemnify business distributors from legal responsibility in case one thing goes improper in a launch and whether or not the US army has an obligation to defend these corporations’ belongings, equivalent to their satellites or floor stations, if they’re offering army assist in a battle.

Until Musk’s refusal in Ukraine, there had not been a concentrate on whether or not there wanted to be language saying a agency offering army assist in struggle needed to agree that that assist may very well be utilized in fight.

“We acquire technology, we acquire services, required platforms to serve the Air Force mission, or in this case, the Department of the Air Force,” stated Andrew Hunter, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, expertise and logistics. “So that is an expectation, that it is going to be used for Air Force purposes, which will include, when necessary, to be used to support combat operations.”

Published On:

Sep 12, 2023