Ukraine gains access to Starshield
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have gained access to the secure network of the US military satellite communications system Starshield. This was reported by Bloomberg. SpaceX has been awarded a Pentagon contract to expand Ukraine's access to a more secure, military version of the Starlink satellite network, Starshield.
Under the new contract, signed in August, 2,500 Starlink terminals already in Ukraine will have access to Starshield. In addition, it became known that 500 terminals had already been previously connected to the military network.
A Ukrainian soldier installs Starlink.
Photo credits: Armed Forces of Ukraine
"A total of 3,000 terminals are being serviced under these two contracts," the Space Systems Command's Commercial Satellite Directorate informed Bloomberg. Both contracts provide for the provision of communication services throughout 2025. According to the publication, the Space Systems Command refused to disclose the value of the new contract.
But the previous agreement with the US European Command for 500 terminals was worth about £40 million.
Starshield
Starshield is a military version of SpaceX's Starlink satellites with improved encryption and a number of other security features. This grouping belongs to the US government and, accordingly, its services can be used only by those agencies to which the government provides access. However, SpaceX is still responsible for ensuring the network's performance.
In total, the US Department of Defense plans to deploy more than 100 satellites for its future satellite communications architecture by 2029. The reason for the creation of a separate group of satellites was the military's concern about the cybersecurity of commercial satellite systems. The satellites are twice as large as their civilian counterparts and support the installation of additional equipment for Earth sensing.
Given the relatively small number of planned satellites, Starshield satellites will work together with civilian Starlink satellites to provide global high-speed communications coverage.