WASHINGTON – SpaceX’s Starlink, the satellite communications service started by billionaire Elon Musk, now has a United States Department of Defence contract to buy those satellite services for Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

“We continue to work with a range of global partners to ensure Ukraine has the resilient satellite and communication capabilities it needs. Satellite communications constitute a vital layer in Ukraine’s overall communications network and the department contracts with Starlink for services of this type,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Starlink has been used by Ukrainian troops in a variety of ways, including for battlefield communications, as it fights off an invasion by its neighbour, Russia.

SpaceX, through private donations and under a separate contract with a US foreign aid agency, has been providing Ukrainians and the country’s military with Starlink Internet service, a fast-growing network of more than 4,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, since the beginning of the war in 2022.

The Pentagon contract is a boon for SpaceX after Mr Musk, the company’s chief executive, said last October that it could not afford to indefinitely fund Starlink in Ukraine, an effort he said cost US$20 million (S$27 million) a month to maintain.

Russia has tried to cut off and jam Internet services in Ukraine, including attempting to block Starlink in the region, though SpaceX has countered those attacks by hardening the service’s software.

The Pentagon did not disclose the terms of the contract, which Bloomberg reported earlier on Thursday, “for operational security reasons and due to the critical nature of these systems”. REUTERS