The Pentagon has signed an agreement with SpaceX to supply Ukraine with Starlink terminals

The Pentagon has signed an agreement with SpaceX to supply Ukraine with Starlink terminals that company founder Elon Musk will not be able to turn off. This information came from The New York Times.

According to the publication, in June 2023, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved the Pentagon's agreement to purchase 400 to 500 new Starlink terminals and services for Ukraine.

According to two sources familiar with the agreement, the Pentagon will have control over the settings of Starlink signals in Ukraine to ensure that the new devices can function effectively.

This step was taken to ensure that Ukraine has stable access to Starlink terminals and services to fulfill its missions without the risk of compromising the quality of communication.

It is worth noting that Elon Musk has previously suspended access to some Starlink terminals in Ukraine.

According to sources, at the end of 2022, approximately 1,300 Starlink terminals purchased through a British supplier stopped working in Ukraine due to underfunding by the government, which could not pay the cost of $2,500 for each terminal on time.

Also, according to the publication, access to Starlink also depended on the situation on the front line due to the course of the war, when Russia occupied the territories and Ukraine regained control over them.

Depending on the change in the front line, Musk used geolocation to restrict access to Starlink in certain areas.

"This created problems. For example, in the fall, when the Ukrainian military was trying to retake cities, including Kherson, that were under Russian control, they needed Internet connectivity. At these critical moments, Musk and SpaceX employees received letters from federal authorities and the military asking them to restore service in areas where the fighting was taking place," the NYT article says.

Today, more than 42,000 Starlink terminals are used in Ukraine by the military, hospitals, businesses, and humanitarian organizations.