The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter on Saturday to SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk demanding that U.S. troops stationed in Taiwan get access to SpaceX’s Starshield, a satellite communication network designed specifically for the military.

The letter, obtained by CNBC and first reported by Forbes, claimed that by not making Starshield available to U.S. military forces in Taiwan, SpaceX could violate its Pentagon contract, which requires “global access” to Starshield technology.

  • geekworking@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    98
    ·
    4 months ago

    Why TF are we renting military stuff from any 3rd party and essentially giving them control to override the military chain of command in the first place? I can’t see this sitting well with anyone on the military side of this.

    • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      Outsourcing is the new thing, you don’t have to take the blame and that’s value for a lot of decision makers.

      Also it always, ALWAYS results in a shittier product. Which is part of the reason why the world is fucked right now.

    • kerrypacker@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      That’s how the whole military works. You think they spend too much now…try socialising it all.