The Pentagon is working with SpaceX to block Russian military access to Starlink

Representatives of the US Department of Defense, working with Elon Muskʼs company SpaceX, blunted the unauthorized use of Starlink Internet terminals on the battlefield by Russian occupiers.

This was announced by John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, Bloomberg reports.

According to him, the Pentagon was actively involved in working with the Ukrainian government and SpaceX to oppose the illegal use of Starlink terminals by Russian forces.

"So far we have successfully resisted Russian use, but I am sure that Moscow will continue to try to find ways to use Starlink and other commercial communications systems. It will continue to be a problem,” said John Plumb.

He declined to specify exactly how the Pentagon, SpaceX and the Ukrainian government acted to block Starlink from the Russians on the front line.

At the same time, the assistant secretary of defense of the United States noted that SpaceX "rapidly innovates" by providing services useful to the Pentagon.

As the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, said, by May 2022, Ukraine will have received 10,000 Starlink terminals. The Pentagon subsequently awarded SpaceX a one-year, $23 million contract that expires this month. The US Department of Defense is currently working on extending the contract until November.

• After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Starlink terminals almost immediately found themselves at the front of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But already in February 2024, Ukrainian intelligence announced that the Russians were also using Starlink at the front. Elon Musk denied this, calling the news that SpaceX supplied Russia with Starlink "categorically false." The intelligence said that Starlink is purchased by the occupiers in Arab countries. Meanwhile, Bloomberg wrote that Starlink can be bought on black markets around the world, and this is a systemic global problem.