In September, SpaceX despatched a letter to the Department of Defense, asking the Pentagon to take over paying for the bills associated to Ukraine’s use of its Starlink satellite tv for pc web. According to CNN, SpaceX informed the division that persevering with to offer the Ukranian authorities with entry to Starlink would value the corporate over $120 million for the remainder of 2022 and nearly $400 million over the subsequent 12 months. “We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” the corporate wrote. Now, firm chief Elon Musk appears to have backtracked on the choice to ask the Pentagon for help and wrote on Twitter that SpaceX will “keep funding [the] Ukraine [government] for free” although Starlink remains to be shedding cash.
Musk confirmed what he stated in his tweet to The Financial Times and added that SpaceX will proceed funding Ukraine’s entry to Starlink’s satellite tv for pc web “indefinitely.”
When information concerning the letter got here out, Musk defended his firm’s place and clarified that SpaceX just isn’t asking the Pentagon to pay for earlier bills. He explained that SpaceX merely cannot fund the present system in Ukraine and usually ship 1000’s of latest terminals to switch those routinely destroyed by the Russian forces on the similar time. Musk added that the “burn” for preserving the Starlink system working within the nation is $20 million a month, because it’s needed to “defend against cyberattacks and jamming,” as properly.
Earlier this month, The Times reported that Ukrainian troops grappled with Starlink outages that led to “catastrophic” lack of communication on the frontline. Musk responded that the piece “falsely claims that Starlink terminals [and] service were paid for, when only a small percentage have been.” Based on SpaceX’s letter that CNN had obtained, although, round 85 % of the 20,000 terminals in Ukraine on the time have been totally or partially funded by the US, the UK, Poland and different exterior sources.
The Pentagon confirmed after information of the letter grew to become public that it has been discussing funds with SpaceX however that it is also been potential alternate options. Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, said in a statement: “There’s not just SpaceX, there are other entities that we can certainly partner with when it comes to providing Ukraine with what they need on the battlefield.”
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