SpaceX’s chief executive said Wednesday that SpaceX is taking steps to prevent the Ukrainian military from using the company’s Starlink satellite Internet service to fly drones in the region during the country’s war with Russia. SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet service, which provides broadband to the Ukrainian military for defense against the Russian military, “was never intended to be used as a weapon,” SpaceX president and COO Gwynn Shotwell said at a conference in Washington, DC. .

But the Ukrainians used it unintentionally and were not part of any agreement,” he said.

Speaking to reporters later, Shotwell referred to reports that the Ukrainian military is using the Starlink service to control drones. Ukraine is actively using unmanned aerial vehicles to detect enemy positions, shoot directly at long distances and drop bombs.

“There are things we can do to limit their ability to do this,” he said, referring to Starlink’s use of drones. “There are things we can do, and we did.”

Shotwell declined to say what steps SpaceX has taken. Shotwell stated that Starlink’s use of drones is outside the scope of the agreement between SpaceX and the Ukrainian government, adding that the contract is for humanitarian purposes such as providing broadband internet to hospitals, banks and families affected by the Russian occupation.

“We know the military uses them for communication, and that’s okay,” he said. “But it was never our intention to use them for offensive purposes.”

SpaceX has privately sent truckloads of Starlink terminals to Ukraine, allowing the country’s military to communicate, connect and connect with the nearly 4,000 satellites SpaceX has launched into Earth orbit so far. Governments, including the United States and France, have paid for other supplies of Starlink terminals in addition to those privately funded by SpaceX.

The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, said Russia tried to disrupt Starlink signals in the region, but SpaceX responded by boosting the service’s software.

When asked if SpaceX was considering using Starlink for offensive purposes in Ukraine when deciding to send the terminals to conflict zones, Shotwell said, “We didn’t consider that. I didn’t think about it. Our Starlink team may not have thought of it, I don’t know. But we learned very quickly.”

At the end of last year, Starlink experienced service failures in Ukraine that SpaceX did not disclose. When asked if the failures were related to SpaceX’s efforts to curb the aggressive use of Starlink, Shotwell said, “I don’t want to answer that question because I’m not sure I know the answer.” Source