[War & Business] The Suspicious Profit of Starlink

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Starlink, the core product of SpaceX, the space company led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, declared its first profit at the end of last month. It was the first profit in four years and six months since the first Starlink satellite was launched in May 2019. There is even anticipation that SpaceX, which has suffered losses for 11 years since its founding, will soon turn profitable.

However, this profit is not entirely a cause for celebration. Since the beginning of this month, the U.S. House Oversight Committee has launched a major investigation into Starlink's revenue. According to the Associated Press, the House has detected circumstances where Starlink was massively exported to Russia through third countries, and reports have come in that the Russian military is extensively using the Starlink system in the Ukraine war, prompting the investigation.

Some have even raised suspicions that SpaceX secretly signed supply contracts with Russia and circumvented sanctions by exporting Starlink indirectly, putting both SpaceX and CEO Musk in a difficult position. Given that Mondel?z, the maker of the famous cookie brand Oreo, recently faced severe criticism for expanding snack exports to Russia, the suspicion of indirect Starlink exports could be a fatal blow to SpaceX's image.

Starlink has become an essential item on the battlefield to the extent that such suspicions have been raised. The frontlines in Ukraine have been bombarded for over two years, completely destroying major communication infrastructure throughout urban and military garrison areas, making basic communication impossible without Starlink. Starlink plays a crucial role not only in communication but also as GPS, which is essential for setting the trajectories of missiles and shells.

The Russian military, which is also facing communication network deficiencies while confronting the Ukrainian forces, has increasingly relied on Starlink since this year. As a result, Ukrainian forces deployed on the frontlines facing the Russian military have begun expressing dissatisfaction with the significantly reduced internet speed of Starlink. A commander of a Ukrainian drone unit told CNN in an interview, "Until the end of last year, the communication speed was much faster, but since January, the speed has dropped to less than half," adding, "This is due to Russians starting to use Starlink imported through third countries."

It is known that the Russian military has gathered thousands of Starlink terminals not only through indirect imports via third countries but also by looting or purchasing them from residents in Ukrainian-occupied territories. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Agency (HUR), pointed out, "The Russian government is using private companies to recruit intermediaries in former Soviet neighboring countries and Ukrainian-occupied territories, who purchase Starlink terminals and then hand them over to the Russian military," highlighting Russia's clever exploitation of loopholes in sanctions against it.

U.S. authorities have also announced they are considering measures to restrict Russia's use of Starlink, drawing attention to what kind of sanctions might be implemented. Some suggest that outer space and satellites, which have so far had no border applications, might soon be delineated like territories, airspace, and territorial waters. Russia and China are already developing satellite interception weapons to disrupt enemy satellite communication networks, and there is a high possibility that fortress-like space stations will be developed to defend against these. In other words, the Star Wars scenario seen only in science fiction movies could soon become a reality.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.