One of the billionaire’s products is currently Ukraine’s only communication system on the front lines in the war against Russia.
Elon Musk has the Product of the Year 2022.
This product is Starlink, the secure satellite internet access service, offered by his aerospace company SpaceX. The service is used particularly by civilians in areas under attack by Russia, and in areas where infrastructure has been destroyed.
Government officials and armed forces employ the service on the ground because it’s secure.
SpaceX’s satellites are also helping Ukrainian military drones destroy Russian tanks and army trucks. The drones are equipped with anti-tank grenades to be launched at targets.
The Drone War
Faced with Russian attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure, Starlink has become the only means of communication for the Ukrainian armed forces on the front.
“Starlink is the primary communications system of the Ukrainian army on the war front. If anyone else wants this job, please be my guest…” Musk posted on Twitter on October 14.
This service has thus thrust Musk into the center of the geopolitical scene.
This new exposure led the billionaire to play diplomat. He proposed a peace plan to put an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, which has lasted for almost nine months and is escalating.
The richest man in the world fears that this conflict will turn into World War III, with the possibility of deployment of nuclear weapons. This is how he explained why his peace plan asked Ukraine to abandon its region of Crimea, annexed in 2014 to Russia, and not to become a member of NATO and the European Union, two organizations which Russian President Vladimir Putin considers a threat to his country’s sovereignty.
Involvement in international geopolitical affairs, however, has a limit for the billionaire. And he just drew that red line. Musk says he’s not interested in building weapons of any kind. Even war drones do not interest him, despite the technological advances of Tesla, which is developing Optimus, a humanoid robot.
The billionaire made this revelation on Twitter.
He started by posting a comment on the use of drones in the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“Drone War I,” the billionaire posted on October 18, with an article from The Independent, a British newspaper, which explains that the killer drones were vying for supremacy in the conflict.
‘Should I Make Weapons?’
“In Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, killer drones have cemented their reputation as a potent, cost-effective weapon that can seek out and destroy targets while simultaneously spreading the kind of terror that can fray the resolve of soldiers and civilians alike,” The Independent wrote.
“They’re also quickly surpassing missiles as the remote weapon of choice. Known as ‘the poor man’s cruise missile,’ the flying death machines can flood any combat theater much more cheaply.”
In 2020, Musk had already warned that the drone killers were going to become the future of war.
“Locally autonomous drone warfare is where the future will be,” the tech tycoon said in a fireside chat, during the Air Force Association’s 2020 Air Warfare Symposium, in February 2020. “It is just what the future will be; it’s autonomous drone warfare.”
Back to the present.
It was in this context of drone warfare that, on October 18, a Twitter user asked Musk if Tesla was going to manufacture a (war) drone.
“They say Turkish one’s are best, Will there be a Tesla drone?” the user posted.
To avoid confusion, the billionaire rephrased the user’s question in his answer before answering it.
“Should I make weapons?” Musk said. “Ideally, not.”
The billionaire’s statement led to many comments from fans, endorsing his desire not to make weapons.
“No,” commented one of his fans.
“A BIG No!!!” added another Twitter user.
“Nah Tesla (and SpaceX et al) will maximize the economic power of those countries that invite technology in and allow it to flourish. Catalyzing economic development is a much more potent (and higher leverage) defense against the forces of entropy (than building a better bomb),” elaborated one user.
“Not war drones! Just for filming and light shows!☮️💫” said another Twitter user.
