Elon Musk limits Ukraine's Starlink use after military used it in ways 'not agreed on'

konfab said:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64579267

Starlink has a product designed for military use. But chances are the Ukrainians don't want to pay for it.

https://www.spacex.com/starshield/
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This product was unveiled in December 2020, and it is unknown whether any commercial commitments are being made with any DoDs. I would think that the Pentagon would be Starlink's initial step into the market.

Reading in on Starshield, this article has some interesting quotes,

spacenews.com

With Starshield, SpaceX readies for battle

SpaceX is answering the Pentagon’s call for more commercial allies with Starshield, a business that will leverage its manufacturing might to provide custom- built spacecraft, sensors, and secure communications services.
spacenews.com spacenews.com

“This wasn’t available before,” John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said Dec. 14 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Ukraine is the first major conflict, he noted, where commercial space technology has come into play in a significant way.

The integration of commercial space into military operations is “the way of the future,” Plumb said. “It’s pretty clear now that the department doesn’t have to build its own constellation for every mission set to introduce resilience.”

...

Starshield presumably would offer customized Starlink satellites and terminals that DoD could own or lease, said Todd Harrison, defense budget analyst and managing director of Metrea Strategic Insights.

SpaceX’s original approach was to sell Starlink communications as a commercial service to DoD, Harrison said, “but think they’re finding that that’s harder than they thought” and there are also lucrative opportunities in selling customized satellites leveraging their existing production lines.

...

Andrew Penn, space industry analyst and principal at the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, sees Starshield as a “logical next step for SpaceX to leverage its mass manufacturing of satellites and terminals — one you could argue it has already taken through its SDA and related national security work.”

SpaceX is essentially telling government buyers it is prepared to establish a separate business unit to handle built-to-order satellites for defense and intelligence customers, Penn noted. “The company will be better positioned to serve the military with its second-generation Starlink satellite buses, which promise to be larger and capable of hosting payloads with higher power requirements.”
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They also touch on the competition,

Like other remote sensing industry players, HawkEye 360 gained attention during the Ukraine war. “We’ve performed over 1,000 individual missions over Ukraine, and it’s given us bona fides that we can then go take to other places where we’re required, in particular Asia Pacific with the rise of China,” Serafini said in September at a Gabelli Funds investors conference.
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then there is the existing agreement, is it underwritten to humantarian needs? This could be an issue where SpaceX could be pulled into possible war crimes.

I do believe that you are close to the mark, it could be that SpaceX is exploring options with the Pentagon to deploy Starshield to Ukraine under the DoD's domain. To quote the article,

The value of commercial satellites, meanwhile, have put private-sector assets directly in the line of fire. Russian officials made that clear as they saw the essential role of Starlink communications services in support of Ukraine. These threats have compelled the Pentagon to consider options to compensate commercial companies if their satellites are damaged while supporting the U.S. military in a conflict.

This is a striking reminder of how far private players have moved into domains that previously only belonged to governments, said Casey Dreier, chief policy adviser for the Planetary Society, a nonprofit that promotes space exploration.

Starlink is the poster child of this trend, he said Dec. 13. A private company being seen as a valid target in warfare “crystallizes how all-encompassing and integrated space is to all sorts of things that we take for granted in the current world order.”

This is raising tough questions for dual-use companies “that are being cross-pressured by different needs,” said Dreier. “When the U.S. government is just one customer of many, do you make a full commitment to the U.S. government to serve exactly their needs in ways that we may not have fully considered?”
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so design a policy, and insurances, around a product that would service the military.

Yeah, Ukraine won't buy it, they would rely on their partners to integrate it with their networks to serve the war in Ukraine.
 
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