wrote<\/a> on Saturday, citing five unnamed sources familiar with the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe vast constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites will be able to track targets on the ground in real time nearly anywhere worldwide, the sources claimed. One of them boasted that Starshield would ensure \u201cno one can hide\u201d from the US government. The system also reportedly aims to be \u201cmore resilient to attacks\u201d by rival space powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It remains unclear how many Starshield satellites are currently operational and when the system is expected to fully come online, with SpaceX and the Pentagon ignoring Reuters\u2019 requests for comment. The NRO claimed it is developing \u201cthe most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen,\u201d but refused to comment on SpaceX\u2019s role in the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SpaceX CEO previously acknowledged the development of the military alternative to the \u201ccivilian\u201d Starlink system, saying in September that it would be \u201cowned by the US government\u201d and controlled by the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStarlink needs to be a civilian network, not a participant to combat,\u201d Musk said, referring to the use of the satellites in Ukraine throughout the conflict with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk donated around 20,000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its military operation in February 2022. Since then, Kiev\u2019s troops heavily relied on the system to maintain communications and operate combat drones along the front line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While pledging support for Ukraine, Musk has repeatedly said he favors a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The billionaire has come under fire from US officials after refusing Kiev\u2019s demands to use the Starlink network to aid strikes on Russia\u2019s Black Sea Fleet. In turn, Musk argued that activating Starlink in Crimea would be in breach of US sanctions. In the absence of any direct orders from the US leadership, SpaceX opted not to contravene regulations despite Kiev\u2019s request to do so, the tycoon explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this month, US lawmakers reportedly launched another probe into SpaceX, after Ukrainian claims that Russian troops had allegedly used Starlink satellite service on the conflict frontline. Musk has denied the allegations, insisting that \u201cno Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia.\u201d The Kremlin has also insisted that the Russian military has never ordered Starlink terminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rt<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s secretive Starshield project will allow the US military to track targets and support American and allied ground forces in real time almost anywhere on Earth, Reuters has reported, sharing new details of the billionaire\u2019s dealings with the Pentagon. SpaceX has been launching prototype military satellites alongside \u201ccivilian\u201d payloads on Falcon 9 rockets since at least […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24945,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[1330,27240,2643,1476],"class_list":["post-24944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-musk","tag-satellite-network","tag-spacex","tag-spy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24946,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24944\/revisions\/24946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}