Elon Musk’s SpaceX has received its first contract from the US Space Force to provide customized satellite communications for the military under the company’s new Starshield program, extending the provocative billionaire’s role as a defense contractor.
See: https://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/starlink-to-the-rescue-1
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is competing with 15 companies, including Viasat Inc., for $900 million in work orders through 2028 under the Space Force’s new “Proliferated Low Earth Orbit” contracts program, which is tapping into communications services of satellites orbiting from 100 miles to 1,000 miles (160 kilometers to 1,600 kilometers) above Earth.[1]
The Starshield service will be provided over SpaceX’s existing constellation of Starlink communications satellites. The previously undisclosed “task order” adds to SpaceX’s growing portfolio of Pentagon business. That includes its competition against United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., to send up national security payloads, as well as a June Pentagon contract of undisclosed value to provide Starlink satellite communications to the Ukraine military and a Falcon 9 launch of 13 satellites this month for the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency.
Musk’s role in Ukraine received criticism after a new biography disclosed that he refused a request from Ukraine’s government to extend Starlink coverage to Russian-held Crimea to assist in a naval drone attack on Russian targets last year. That was before SpaceX was put on contract by the Pentagon to provide Starlink service to Ukraine. But Musk’s decision and moves including his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin sparked questions from some lawmakers about his reliability as a Pentagon supplier, including an inquiry being opened by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“SpaceX is a prime contractor and a critical industry partner for the DoD and the recipient of billions of dollars in taxpayer funding,” a group of Democratic senators said in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “We are deeply concerned with the ability and willingness of SpaceX to interrupt their service at Mr. Musk’s whim and for the purpose of handcuffing a sovereign country’s self-defense, effectively defending Russian interests.”
SpaceX’s one-year contract for Starshield was awarded 01 September 2023, according to Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek. The contract, with a $70 million ceiling, “provides for Starshield end-to-end service via the Starlink constellation, user terminals, ancillary equipment, network management and other related services,” she said. By 30 September 2023 about $15 million will be obligated to SpaceX with funding that supports 54 “mission partners” across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, she said.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment on the new contract. But in a message on Musk’s social media platform X, the former Twitter, on 08 September 2023, he wrote that “SpaceX is building Starshield for the US government, which is similar to, but much smaller than, Starlink, as it will not have to handle millions of users. That system will be owned and controlled by the US government.”
Starshield falls under the SpaceX’s Special Projects group, whose vice president is retired Air Force General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, former head of US Northern Command. He joined the company in October 2000, shortly after he retired from the Air Force, according to a US Ethics in Government filing. Before retiring, he recused himself in May 2020 from any SpaceX dealings, the forms indicate.
The Starshield contract “is for a service” but “how SpaceX or any other company” provides “that service is up to them,” Lieutenant Colonel Omar Villarreal, a Space Force spokesman, said in an email. “I am unable to get into specifics, but requirements were received from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and other outside agencies” and combined, he said.
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[1] https://archive.is/20230927204826/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-27/elon-musk-wins-us-space-force-contract-for-starshield-deepening-pentagon-ties#selection-4845.0-4867.24
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