Ukraine tried for the first time to use uncrewed surface vessels against Russian vessels in Sevastopol Bay in September 2022, but 70 kilometres from the target, the connection with billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlinks was lost. It was not possible to persuade Musk to turn back on the connection, so Ukraine modified the drones.
This doesn’t make much sense…starlink was already available for military use by the Ukrainians. That was the whole reason Musk was “donating” use of the system to them.
Even if this were the underlying reason, the behavior I would expect from any US company that doesn’t have ITAR clearance would be to cite said lack of clearance for the decision instead of the CEO coming out and saying he did it for war strategy reasons (like being worried about a nuclear response).
No it wasn’t. There was never US government dispensation for direct UA military use. The original provisioning was for civilian usage. Starlink is definitely approved for US military, and a blind eye was turned to backend logistics use by UA, but as soon as your equipment is guiding bombs onto targets you’re running straight into ITAR. It’s being used for a weapon and that’s a major no no.
This doesn’t make much sense…starlink was already available for military use by the Ukrainians. That was the whole reason Musk was “donating” use of the system to them.
Even if this were the underlying reason, the behavior I would expect from any US company that doesn’t have ITAR clearance would be to cite said lack of clearance for the decision instead of the CEO coming out and saying he did it for war strategy reasons (like being worried about a nuclear response).
No it wasn’t. There was never US government dispensation for direct UA military use. The original provisioning was for civilian usage. Starlink is definitely approved for US military, and a blind eye was turned to backend logistics use by UA, but as soon as your equipment is guiding bombs onto targets you’re running straight into ITAR. It’s being used for a weapon and that’s a major no no.
Edit You’re vs your