“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shot back at former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
Fedorov had appealed to Musk on X to remove Starshield’s speed restrictions entirely, calling it “critical for Ukraine’s defense.”
Musk also stressed that commercial Starlink is a separate service owned by SpaceX and “is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action.”
The clarification comes after Ukrainian units complained that new connectivity limits were disrupting drone operations. Reuters reported that the military-grade service stopped working above roughly 160 km/h, forcing several missions to be cancelled, while some units experienced 10–20 second connection losses even at lower speeds.
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