On October 14, Ukrainian soldiers using drones to attack Russian forces in Zaporizhzhia and elsewhere started to find many of their machines were losing satellite connectivity.
asserted
many → use → connectivity
Given Ukraine’s extensive and largely successful use of drones in the war, the anomaly was noticeable, forcing operators to abandon missions.
asserted
anomaly → give → missions
Experts later traced the problem to a satellite communications service provided by U.S.-based SpaceX, called Starshield.
asserted
Experts → trace → SpaceX
A week later, The Wall Street Journal reported the disruption had been deliberate: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had personally asked for the connectivity to be throttled.
asserted
connectivity → report → ?
Where the order first originated has been disputed, in Mr. Musk’s office or in the White House.
asserted
originated → originate → House
But wherever it did, the fact remains: Mr. Musk was able to take para-state action in a war between two sovereign countries.
asserted
Musk → do → countries
(On October 22, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had asked Mr. Musk to restore connectivity.)
asserted
he → say → connectivity
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation currently consists of more than 11,000 satellites in low-earth orbit that provide Internet connectivity to users on the ground.
asserted
that → consist → ground
Starshield uses the same constellation to provide secure communications important to national security, with stronger data encryption; its other services, including remote-sensing, use specialised satellites.
asserted
services → use → satellites
Ukraine uses Starshield because Russia’s invasion in early 2022 has damaged the eastern European nation’s telecom infrastructure.
asserted
invasion → use → infrastructure
By December 2024, the Pentagon had also arranged for Ukraine to access Starshield through roughly 3,000 terminals.
asserted
Ukraine → arrange → terminals
Today, its forces use the service to track enemy positions and supply routes and to intercept drones, with the Starlink satellites relaying information.
asserted
satellites → use → information
Mr. Trump has been insisting Ukraine stop attacking Russia’s oil refineries over his worries about surging international oil prices, primed by his war in West Asia.
asserted
Ukraine → insist → Asia
When Mr. Trump objected once more on October 10, Mr. Musk chipped in that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had gone too far.
asserted
Zelenskyy → object → October
Four days later, Ukrainian soldiers felt the pinch.
asserted
soldiers → feel → pinch
For decades now, private contractors have supplied armies with arms, intelligence, and logistical support.
asserted
contractors → supply → arms
However, the armies had physical ownership of and control over many of the weapons they purchased.
asserted
they → have → weapons
With Starshield, however, the provider continued to retain the ability to change the operating conditions of the ‘assistance’ even after the customer had begun using it — like a grenade launcher that could launch grenades to 150 m on most days but suddenly launched only to five metres on one, because you were not fighting your war the way the manufacturer preferred.
uncertain
manufacturer → continue → war
Ordinarily, the decision to stop or withhold a country’s military operations would involve political leaders and defence officials.
asserted
decision → stop → leaders
Now, however, Starshield has well and truly complicated the relationship between public authority and private ownership.
asserted
Starshield → complicate → authority
In 2022, Mr. Musk refused Ukraine’s request to activate Starlink connectivity near Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea, which Russia has annexed, to enable Ukrainian forces to target Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
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Russia → refuse → Fleet
Mr. Musk later expressed some consternation about the conflict escalating — a compunction he seems to have lost since, even as his own relationship with Mr. Trump has soared and plummeted.
asserted
relationship → express → Trump
Nonetheless, the fact that the concerns of a single non-state actor could matter at all — an absurd notion in an earlier era — has become a strategic reality.
uncertain
concerns → matter → era
Subsequent Pentagon contracts have sought, at least in part, to formalise the relationship between Starlink and the U.S. military.
asserted
contracts → seek → Starlink
Today’s armies, and their wars, increasingly depend on satellite communications, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, all of which private contractors can develop and package at speed and deploy at scale.
asserted
contractors → depend → scale
Musk’s actions with Starshield last week have revealed that military action had until recently depended, perhaps passively, on the lack of such speed and scale as one kind of safeguard.
asserted
action → reveal → safeguard
Now that their importance is shrinking, armies of the present and future must deliberate on what can replace them.
asserted
what → shrink → them
The Aporia
