If starlink is permitted cart blanche to be used as a drone control platform (interfacing from phone to drone without other infrastructure) directly, this could also be exploited all over the world, and would be a basis for other countries to refuse to approve starlink service. I know it's HIGHLY illegal to operate a drone as a weapon here, but does anyone really want the cartels etc. to have that native capability in short order via satellite operation?
Again, we should probably keep in mind that some of this is just one-sided propaganda.
Musk hit back at Kelly, a politician astronaut who has since shut his trap:
Quote:
Musk told Kelly he was smart enough to "not swallow media & other propaganda bs." He called Starlink the "communication backbone" of Ukraine, something he has said before. "But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3," Musk tweeted.
In a separate tweet, Musk said Starlink terminals are designed for private use, not military use, "but we have not exercised our right to turn them off."
He said SpaceX was trying to do the right thing, but this was an "extremely difficult moral question." The company has not confirmed how it has limited Ukraine's ability to use SpaceX for military purposes.
Quote:
Ukrainian citizens and troops have used Starlink to get online since Musk activated the service in the country and sent over thousands of internet kits after Russia's invasion in February 2022.
Starlink's terms of service say the service is "not designed or intended for use with or in offensive or defensive weaponry or other comparable end-uses." But there have been reports of the Ukrainian military using Starlink on drones.
The Times of London reported in March 2022 that a Ukrainian drone unit was using Starlink to help destroy Russian tanks and trucks at night. One soldier told a British reporter in April that the satellite service had "changed the war in Ukraine's favor."
Musk has previously tweeted about Starlink being for "peaceful use only" and most recently said the company will not allow it to be used in long-range drone strikes. SpaceX's COO Gwynne Shotwell said Wednesday the company never intended for Starlink to be "weaponized" in the war "but the Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement."
Oh btw, a fleet of military starlink comms is being developed/paid for, so if the CIA then chooses to operate this on behalf of/through that channel/fleet (
"Starshield"), that might be a different game.