The US Air Force is making plans to work with Starlink
to support its operations in Europe and Africa.
This comes after Starlink was commended for its role in keeping Ukrainians online
amid Russia's ongoing invasion.
In an announcement, the service said that US Air Forces Europe-Air
Forces Africa would purchase service from Starlink, which is operated by SpaceX,
to support the 86th Airlift Wing based at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why US Air Force purchasing
Starlink services? Let's get started.
Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX providing
satellite Internet access to most of the Earth. Musk's Starlink aims to sell internet connections
to almost anyone on the planet by way of a growing network of private satellites orbiting overhead.
As of April 2022 Starlink consists of over 2,100 mass-produced satellites.
Space X describes the Starlink system as a “high-speed,
low-latency broadband internet” option for users all over the world.
There are plans that could see the number of satellites potentially reach 42,000 in the future.
Instead of relying on fiber-optic connections or 5G towers,
Starlink connects users to satellites using transceivers that can be set up anywhere.
Users can switch off a transceiver and take it with them.
Users usually see download speeds between 100 mb/s and 200 mb/s and
latency that can be as low as 20ms Over 10,000 Starlink terminals are
currently in use in Ukraine and each terminal can serve many users.
The 12-month, $1.92 million contract was awarded in late July and is set to begin
sometime between August and July 2023. It is meant as "an interim solution" until a broader
agreement is reached. Politico first reported on the contract after it was announced on August 4.
The intent "is to provide either First-Generation or High-Performance
satellite terminals and internet service either static/fixed site or portable/mobile
to the terminals enabling users to connect devices to the internet,"
the Air Force said in a justification document for the sole-source contract.
Starlink is the only commercial company that can provide
low-earth orbit satellite communications in both Europe and Africa, the document says,
referring to Starlink as having "the most well-established LEO satellite network
with more than 1,350 satellites" while its competitors "are still in their infancy."
Referring to Ukraine, the document says, Starlink is also the only such network
currently being used in "a contested environment,"
The Air Force Research Laboratory has found that in contested environments,
low-earth orbit satellite constellations "are much more resilient to signal jamming
and also provide the low latency required to support tactical missions," according to the
document, which notes that the Air Force is pursuing several efforts that could
require support for tactical missions in contested environments — including agile combat employment.
"The communication requirements within and around eastern European areas
in support of Ukraine operations expands daily," the document says.
"Starlink LEO fulfills the requirement of reducing processing times
and increases theater-based operations on changing requirements and locations."
"After extensive research it was found that SpaceX-Starlink is the only vendor
able to provide this specialized communication
service in the current areas of operation in the required time," the document adds.
US Air Force officials began researching commercial low-earth-orbit
internet service in Europe and Africa in June 2021. While Starlink was found to be the only
current provider in both regions, other firms, namely Amazon, OneWeb, and Telesat, "are all
expected to provide" service there "in the next few years," the justification document says.
Ukraine's internet and communications networks were attacked in the hours before Russia launched
its offensive on February 24 and have been targeted throughout the conflict. Shortly
after Moscow began its attack, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Starlink had been activated in Ukraine
in response to requests from Ukrainian officials.
More than $15 million has been spent by various stakeholders to provide the
hardware and transport them to Ukraine. Lots of people are using the system.
Since then, Ukrainians have relied on Starlink for civilian and military communications,
and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has praised it as "very effective."
US military officials have also praised Starlink for its resiliency in the
face of what Musk has called increased "jamming & hacking attempts" by Russia.
Brig. Gen. Steve Butow, director of the space portfolio at the Pentagon's Defense
Innovation Unit, said the satellite network has had a strategic impact,
telling Politico that it had "totally destroyed" Russia's information campaign.
(SpaceX has received a number of contracts from the US military.)
Gen. Stephen Townsend, who retired this month after three years as head of US Africa Command,
said at a Defense Writers Group event in July that
he had seen how Starlink was being used in Ukraine and was "intrigued by it."
"I've asked my staff, 'Hey, can we use that capability and if so tell me how,'" Townsend
said when asked if a service like Starlink could be useful for militaries in Africa. "I
don't have the answer back yet, so I don't know, but I've asked the same question you just asked."
In 2020, the United States Air Force utilized Starlink in support of its Advanced
Battlefield management system during a live-fire exercise. They demonstrated Starlink connected to
a "variety of air and terrestrial assets" including the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.
This clearly indicated that the system had potential for military use.
Starlink's effectiveness in Ukraine has also attracted attention in China,
where researchers noted that the Chinese military
should develop ways to interfere with or destroy Starlink satellites in the event of a conflict.
As Starlink starts receiving military contracts,
it will be interesting to see how the US forces leverage its capabilities for combat.