SpaceX and Ukraine War Trouble

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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SpaceX and Ukraine War Trouble

© Win McNamee / Getty Images News via Getty Images

Some observers believe that Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been critical to the success of Ukraine during the Russian invitation. Its Starlink dishes have allowed people across the country, and the military, to communicate. The links to low-orbit satellites provide connectivity. The benefit only goes so far. SpaceX will not allow Ukraine to use Starlink for military purposes when they are meant to be on the offensive. (Click here for the companies profiting most from war.)
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The lack of use for offense means that the system can probably not be used for drones. Drones are an essential part of the battle against tanks and ground forces. According to the BBC, at an event in the District of Columbia on Wednesday, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell explained that Starlink technology was “never meant to be weaponised.”
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While many believe Elon Musk has no ethics, at least some people who work for him claim that they do.
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The news hurts Ukraine at a challenging time. The Russians have begun one or more attacks across wide territories. The Ukrainian military remains underweaponed and undermanned. Some estimates are that it has suffered 100,0000 casualties in a year. The Russians have lost about the same, but they have nearly unlimited access to troops, even if they get them by any means.
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The war has reached a stage when the balance of weapons has become as critical as at any time since the invasion began. Russia has sent tens of thousands of more troops to the front. Ukraine’s government continues to implore the United States and other NATO nations for weapons, which it needs within weeks. The supply chain logistics mean this will not happen rapidly.

Starlink is one of Ukraine’s few advantages, and even that has been weakened.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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