"The critical nature of the systems": Pentagon signs contract with Musk to provide Ukrainian army with Starlink

The Pentagon says it has agreed to purchase Starlink satellite internet terminals from Elon Musk's SpaceX for use in Ukraine as Kyiv continues to defend itself against a full-scale Russian invasion. At the same time, the details of the agreement were not disclosed.

This was reported by CNBC. "We continue to work with a number of global partners to provide Ukraine with the necessary satellite and communications capabilities. Satellite communications are a vital layer in Ukraine's overall communications network, and the department is contracting with Starlink for this type of service," the Pentagon said in a statement.

At the same time, the US Defense Department refused to provide additional details of the contract, including the price, volume and delivery time.

"For operational security reasons and due to the critical nature of these systems, we do not have additional information on specific capabilities, contracts, or partners that we could provide at this time," the Pentagon explained.

The first Starlink terminals arrived in Ukraine four days after Russian troops launched a large-scale invasion, the largest air, land and sea offensive in Europe since World War II.

In October last year, Musk said that SpaceX would not be able to continue to finance the use of Starlink terminals in the country out of its own pocket after the company asked the Pentagon to cover the costs. However, the billionaire later changed his mind and continued to finance the service.

Starlink is SpaceX's global network of more than 4,000 satellites serving more than 50 countries. The company has increased the number of Starlink customers to more than 1.5 million and launches batches of additional satellites every week to expand the network's capabilities. The US has approved a plan to expand to 7,500 satellites in orbit.

As previously reported, after the scandal with the disconnection of Starlink near the temporarily occupied Crimea, it became known that American billionaire Elon Musk did not turn on satellite Internet terminals in some areas in Donbas. He did so without the knowledge of the Ukrainian side. Musk justified his decision by saying that he did not want Starlink to be used for offensive purposes, because, according to him, offense is not defense.

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