US government reportedly spent millions to send Starlink to Ukraine
Last month, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said she didn't believe the federal government gave any money to SpaceX to provide terminals to Ukraine – but it appears it did
The US government has spent millions of dollars since the start of Ukraine war to send Elon Musk-owned Starlink's satellite internet terminals to Ukraine, according to a report from The Washington Post.
That is contrary to SpaceX's statement last month that the US government didn't provide any funding for the shipment of Starlink terminals to Ukraine.
Following Russia's invasion, Ukrainian authorities appealed to SpaceX to send its Starlink terminals in order to improve internet access in the nation.
Soon after, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, announced that the company would send Starlink internet terminals to Ukraine.
Since that time, his firm is said to have provided $10 million worth of terminals and Starlink service to the Ukrainian government.
The terminals are enabling officials and essential service providers to continue communicating within Ukraine and with the rest of the world in areas where brutal aggression from Russian forces has resulted in serious damage to Ukraine's fibre optic and cellular communication infrastructure.
"Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route," Musk stated on Twitter last month.
In March, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the company had donated "thousands" of Starlink satellite internet kits to Ukraine, portraying the moves as a charitable gesture in part.
"I'm proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in Ukraine. It's been enormously helpful, I think, to ensure people are still communicating," Shotwell said during a panel at the Satellite 2022 conference in Washington, DC
She added that France and possibly Poland helped in getting the terminals to Ukraine, although she said she did not think the US government had provided any financial assistance to SpaceX to send terminals to Ukraine.
However, according to The Washington Post, the US federal government is in fact spending millions of dollars for a substantial portion of the equipment as well as for the transportation expenses to get it delivered to Ukraine.
As per documents acquired by the publication, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has paid $1,500 apiece for a total of 1,333 terminals, amounting to around $2 million.
It also paid the transportation expenses for all of the terminals to the tune of $800,000, resulting in a total expenditure of more than $3 million by USAID.
USAID revealed the number of terminals it bought from SpaceX in a press release that has since been altered to omit mentions of the purchase.
Overall, the agency and SpaceX have delivered more than 5,000 terminals to Ukraine, with shipping and delivery handled by a third-party contractor.
The Washington Post says it is unclear if Ukraine was sent regular terminals, for which SpaceX now charges $600 apiece, or upgraded terminals, which were announced in February and cost about $2,500.
USAID told the publication that that the delivery of Starlink terminals was made possible by a variety of partners, whose "combined contributions valued over $15 million."