1,300 SpaceX satellites were inactive due to financial concerns

• Ukrainian troops fear losing access to internet service provided by Elon Musk’s private rocket business SpaceX.
• The company’s dependability is questioned after financing disputes and operational outages.
• Pentagon had spent roughly $100 million sponsoring Starlink in Ukraine.

After 1,300 military satellite units went offline last week, two sources said Ukraine’s troops’ fears of losing access to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service increased.

Musk’s private rocket business SpaceX’s compact, easy-to-use satellite dishes have been widely acclaimed as a game-changing source of communication for Ukraine’s military, allowing it to fight and stay online even while cellular phone and internet networks have been decimated in its battle with Russia.

SpaceX’s dependability has been questioned after financing disputes and operational outages.

CNN said that SpaceX wrote to the Pentagon in September saying it had spent roughly $100 million sponsoring Starlink in Ukraine and could no longer do so. The letter asked the Defense Department to pay Ukraine’s military at tens of millions of dollars a month.

Musk said SpaceX has withdrawn the request days after the CNN article.

Musk tweeted, “The hell with it—we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”

Despite Musk’s allegation that SpaceX withdrew its proposal, a senior defense official said negotiations continue.

Negotiations continue. The senior Pentagon official told CNN that the government wants written pledges “because we worry he’ll change his mind.”

Musk, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley attended a US Space Force ceremony on Wednesday. Musk’s Twitter takeover was controversial.

Musk and SpaceX declined comment. The Ukrainian government—including the Ministry of Defense—did not immediately respond.

One source called the October 24 outage a “major concern” for Ukraine’s military.

This person indicated financing had cut off the terminals.

The outage damaged 1,300 combat-related terminals Ukraine bought from a British business in March.

The person briefed on the case said SpaceX was billing Ukraine’s military $2,500 a month to keep each of the 1,300 units linked, totaling over $20 million by September. The guy mentioned they ran out of money.

In early October, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense asked Britain to pay the $3.25 million monthly cost before the terminals went dark. The source claimed the terminals were rotated out as concerns grew that service could be switched off to minimize the damage.

The ministries “decided there were higher priority military capabilities,” a British official said.

The UK has been flying thousands of Ukrainian troops to Britain for training before returning to the frontlines, among other support.

“We support a number of terminals that have a direct tactical utility for Ukraine’s forces in opposing Russia’s invasion,” the British source told CNN. “We prioritize all new requests based on how they will help Ukraine defend its people against Putin’s horrible invasion.”

A senior Ukrainian official acknowledged the outage, calling Starlink equipment “extremely crucial” for Ukraine’s struggle against Russia.

SpaceX informed the Pentagon in September that Ukraine has nearly 20,000 Starlink stations. SpaceX admitted that most were purchased with outside money, notably from the US, Polish, and UK governments. The letter said the sources paid 30% of the monthly connectivity bill.

The terminals, which connect to SpaceX’s fleet of satellites orbiting the planet, keep troops and civilians online and have been utilized lethally for Ukraine’s drone and artillery targeting.

Ukraine’s military operates 1,300 terminals, a substantial percentage of which were recently shut down. In a July letter viewed by CNN, the commander-in-chief asked Musk for more, stating the military had deployed 4,000.

Musk claimed earlier this month that of the more than 25,000 terminals in Ukraine, fewer than 11,000 were paying for the service, which can cost $4,500 per month.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said conversations are ongoing but declined to comment on potential contracts or agreements on Monday.

“We continue to explore Ukraine’s satellite connectivity needs with Ukraine and firms like SpaceX and others,” Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters.

SpaceX cooperation may allow the US government more control over the Starlink transmission in Ukraine. As Ukrainian forces pushed and cleared Russian-held territory, they reported problems at Ukraine Starlink terminals, which SpaceX controls.

Musk controls the signal, giving him enormous influence over the battlefield at a time when he has been heavily criticized for suggesting Ukraine sue for peace and give up some of its land.

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