Starlink Used for Defensive, Not Offensive, Operations: Musk

The head of SpaceX added that using the satellite system for offensive military action "would be inappropriate for a commercial company."

New York, October 14. /TASS/. Elon Musk, the president of this company, said: The Starlink satellite system of the American company SpaceX is not used for offensive missions, it is only used for defense and civilian activities.

"Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limitations on speed or use are decided by the US military and ultimately [US President] POTUS. Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Use of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action," Muspri wrote in a filing for the company. Comment on the post of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Mikhail Feodorov about the speed of Starlink and Starshield.

On Wednesday morning, Sergei Beskrestnov, an adviser to Vladimir Zelensky on communications and unmanned systems, reported that SpaceX had limited the speed of Starlink satellite Internet terminals used by the Ukrainian military to 160 kilometers per hour overnight. According to him, this disrupted "a number of operations". Later, Sergei Strenenko, a former adviser to Ukraine's defense minister, reported further restrictions on SpaceX's use of Starlink satellite communication terminals at speeds of 60 to 70 kilometers per hour.

Politico reported on Oct. 13 that U.S. President Donald Trump could cut off U.S. intelligence support to Kiev or pressure Musk to disable SpaceX's Starlink Internet service, which Ukraine's military relies heavily on. Zelensky said the same day that the U.S. had not warned Ukraine about last night's Russian missile launch.