Pentagon buying Starlink dishes for Ukraine after funding dispute with SpaceX
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
As it turns out, Apartheid babyman only wants to support authoritarianism, and the various bigotries that sustain it
Upvote
21
(158
/
-137)
The Free Speech Absolutionist strikes again!
Seriously, this would be such an easy PR win for Musk, and it's amazing how badly he's repeatedly botched it. It's not surprising he did, mind you, but...
Upvote
197
(241
/
-44)
So since the US taxpayers are now paying for Starlink, can the Ukrainian government use Starlink for drone usage? Musk's getting his paycheck so he shouldn't care anymore. He doesn't have a real ethical concern about this, he just wants someone else to foot the bill for his tech.
Upvote
86
(143
/
-57)
Ideally this will get paid back by Russia in the form of war reparations when they lose the war. Sadly ideal things rarely seem to happen though.
Edit: I should have said Special Military Operation Reparations - "Come on Russia, give us SMOR!"
Edit: I should have said Special Military Operation Reparations - "Come on Russia, give us SMOR!"
Last edited:
Upvote
102
(111
/
-9)
SpaceX would prefer to keep their orbits free of debris, and their frequencies free from jamming, as well as their sats free from hostile takeover, all of which Russia is potentially capable of getting involved in, if Starlink is considered a weapon...
Upvote
67
(108
/
-41)
You do realize that Starlink is one of the primary reasons that Ukraine has been as successful as it has, right?
Upvote
84
(121
/
-37)
The problem is that like a lotta conservatives these days, he really really really really really really likes Russia. Rhetorically that's a little weird to me still. I know the reason, but it's still weird.
Upvote
31
(101
/
-70)
If this serves as an object lesson to US core C&C leadership and infrastructure that it is dangerous to sole-source rely on companies that are privately directly by mercurial people who hold idiosyncratic views about the use of that C&C infrastructure... then it will have been money doubly-well spent.
I cannot cannot triple-cannot wait for an alternative system to be up and running.
I cannot cannot triple-cannot wait for an alternative system to be up and running.
Upvote
40
(70
/
-30)
wah wah but the DeFeNsE CoNTraActOrs!!
SpaceX launches for DOD and NRO, what the hell would you call them but a defense contractor? Do you even know what "defense contractor" means, or is it a ritualistic totem?
Upvote
66
(102
/
-36)
On what timeline is Ars community like that? Ars community has always looked strongly in favor of the US and other countries supporting Ukraine as long as Ukraine wanted to stand up and defend itself. That obviously requires funding over a range of defense contractors in the US and other places to produce at a minimum replacements for what has been given to Ukraine. That includes someone like SpaceX who frankly needed more cover on providing satcomms for Ukraine and DoD involvement hopefully provides more cover and some expanded utilization in an offensive way.
Upvote
147
(154
/
-7)
Musk might not care, but SpaceX should and does. If these are weaponized by a foreign nation and we just shrug, that opens up some ugly cans of worms in terms of ITAR agreements and legal precedents.
Upvote
42
(61
/
-19)
This argument again...
It's been pointed out in past articles Musk has been lying about Starlink/SpaceX funding this out of its own pocket. Most, if not all, terminals and service have been paid for by 3rd parties. All that's changed in this situation is the US is making a bulk order of its own.
Upvote
63
(102
/
-39)
You realize he advocated, publicly, for ceding them the territory they want, right?
"I'm not pro-Nazi, but I think they should receive the Sudetenland for the sake of peace" is a take.
Upvote
178
(196
/
-18)
Finally. It was weird having such a critical service funded by ad hoc donations. Hopefully the Pentagon contract provides some stability.
Though it won't stop the Starlink outages, which were often blamed on SpaceX but according to US intelligence (via the Discord leaks) were actually the result of Russian jamming:
www.pravda.com.ua
Though it won't stop the Starlink outages, which were often blamed on SpaceX but according to US intelligence (via the Discord leaks) were actually the result of Russian jamming:
Kremlin uses secret weapon against Starlink in Ukraine
Russia has released a secret weapon to destroy the SpaceX Starlink satellite in Ukraine.
If the Pentagon wrote that into the contract, probably. But given the US government's reluctance to provide longer-range munitions such as ATACMS, the status quo probably suits them just fine, unfortunately.
The Pentagon didn't source it in the first place, which was both a boon (Ukraine was able to start using Starlink faster than if it had gone through the normal Pentagon procurement process) and a drawback (uncertainty over funding and responsibility for how it was used).
Upvote
89
(89
/
0)
Well for now the only competitor SpaceX has is probably China. I don't know of anyone else worth mentioning.
Upvote
30
(33
/
-3)
Spacex is not alone in this.
Many drone companies have modified their software so it can't (in theory) be used in offense the way Ukraine wants to use them...
I wonder how many hundreds of millions /billions this deal was worth
Upvote
24
(26
/
-2)
"SpaceX knows "the military is using them for comms, and that's OK," President and COO Gwynne Shotwell reportedly said in February. "But our intent was never to have them use it for offensive purposes."
i admire gwynne shotwell a great deal, and i'm sorry to see her dragged into this PR mess. that said, come on, comm is a warfighting capability (duh), and it better not all be defensive, because that means you're losing.
i admire gwynne shotwell a great deal, and i'm sorry to see her dragged into this PR mess. that said, come on, comm is a warfighting capability (duh), and it better not all be defensive, because that means you're losing.
Upvote
-3
(26
/
-29)
I don't think he has a strong affinity for Russia. He opened Starlink for Ukrainians a few days after the war started - nobody would have said anything I'd he had just ignored their requests.
I don't understand Musk at all but Starlink has been a force for good over the past year and SpaceX clearly contributed a lot of resources to it. Claiming this is all tax-payer funded is ridiculous and unfairly belittled SpaceX's and Musk's contributions just so it fits into our mental image of Musk, the villain.
Upvote
7
(55
/
-48)
He has such little affinity for Russia that he proposed exactly what the Russians want as a "peace plan."
Kremlin welcomes Elon Musk proposal for Ukraine settlement denounced by Kyiv
The Kremlin praised Tesla boss Elon Musk on Tuesday for suggesting a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, after Kyiv rebuked Musk for proposing terms it views as rewarding Russia.
Upvote
87
(102
/
-15)
What would the concern be? You either end up on the defense articles list or not based on what the hardware is/can do; not on the basis of what a specific end user says that they have planned.
It's possible that getting export licenses and approvals could become more difficult if the customer base proves to be more creative and undesirable than the State Department had originally anticipated; but "fancy antennas for compact satellite communications" end up on the list or not under the same criteria regardless of whether Ukraine swears up and down that they are for kitten orphanages only or whether they plan to stencil "born to kill" on each of them before sending them toward Moscow. And I assume that fancy satellite communication antennas are something that the State Department already suspects of having a military flavor without need for demonstrations).
Upvote
21
(24
/
-3)
While I disagree with the decision, the choice on direct offensive use of a product is a choice they have a right to make. Elon does make an absolutely horrible armchair general though
Upvote
24
(30
/
-6)
Upvote
60
(63
/
-3)
Do you remember when he tweeted about ending this war in Ukraine 2 days or a week or whatever it was after talking to Putin directly? Where he basically said give Russia what they want and the war ends? Because I do.
Upvote
93
(101
/
-8)
The Raytheon CEO doesn't have sycophants clogging the forums claiming he doesn't poop and is paying for everything out of his pocket.
Upvote
74
(88
/
-14)
There was a year-long negotiation to launch Starlink, the invasion occurred right before the scheduled start date.
No, I don't think Musk has a great love for Russia. I believe he called for peace because of the potential disruption to his business: people being bombed aren't looking for cat videos, or running banks. On the other hand, he wasn't going to anger Putin, and risk losing the Russian market, by allowing Ukraine's military to weaponize Starlink. He got lucky there's a third option, which is the non-violent use by the government.
As for SpaceX's contribution, there's no evidence of it. USAID alone spent over $2M for terminals and service. Various governments disclosed their donations. Non-profits disclosed their donations. Ukrainian residents disclosed their receipts.
You know who hasn't disclosed anything? SpaceX. No, tweets don't count. Show me the balance sheet.
Upvote
42
(56
/
-14)
As has already been mentioned, 3rd parties paid for Starlink, Musk didn't provide it out of the goodness of his heart.
And his "peace proposal" was that Ukraine surrender. Sounds mighty pro-Russia to me.
Upvote
60
(73
/
-13)
The next crisis Pedo-Elon tried to insert himself by claiming he would be helping "for free".
Started with the cave flooding, Covid, etc. and now this.
He's just an asshole. As is anybody still supporting him or buying his cars.
Started with the cave flooding, Covid, etc. and now this.
He's just an asshole. As is anybody still supporting him or buying his cars.
Upvote
9
(42
/
-33)
its more nuclear appeasement trap. if you aren't familiar with the fallacies you run into on why appeasement is the last thing you should consider, and let's face it, Elon is an idiot when it comes to politics, let alone geopolitics and deterrence theory, appeasement SOUNDS safe at first when all it really does is give the abuser permission to do it again.
Upvote
64
(67
/
-3)
