The US Navy Embraces Starlink for Enhanced Communications Capabilities

Life aboard a US Navy warship at sea can be stressful, boring, and lonely, with separation from friends and family and long stretches between port calls both isolating and monotonous. Now, Elon Musk is here to take the edge off.

In a now deleted press release from the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR), the Navy recently announced that it is experimenting with bringing reliable and persistent high-speed internet to its surface warships. The connectivity comes via a new system developed under its Sailor Edge Afloat and Ashore (SEA2) initiative, which uses satellites from the Starlink network maintained by Musk’s SpaceX and other spaceborne broadband internet providers to maintain a constant and consistent internet connection for sailors—a system that NAVWAR says has “applications across the entire Navy.”

The US Defense Department has for decades relied on a network of aging satellites to furnish service members at sea with decidedly slow internet access, according to an updated release NAVWAR shared with WIRED. By contrast, commercial satellite constellations like Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb, which number in the thousands and offer coverage from a significantly lower orbit, provide a far superior connection.

The resulting SEA2 system, dubbed the Satellite Terminal (transportable) Non-Geostationary (STtNG), allows a warship’s tactical feeds secure access to low-orbit satellites with a median connection speed of 30 to 50 megabits per second, according to NAVWAR. With the installation of additional Starlink antennas, the system can scale up to speeds of 1 gigabit per second.

NAVWAR retracted and corrected an earlier press release initially published on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System (DVIDS), concerning the installation of a Starlink terminal on the USS Abraham Lincoln. The command’s spokesperson, Elisha Gamboa, communicated to WIRED that the adjustment was made to rectify inaccuracies and verify the release’s correctness.

The disclosure about the deployment of the Starlink terminal on the USS Lincoln came to light just as this aircraft carrier and its strike group were reassigned to the US Central Command sector in the Middle East. This move comes amidst escalating tensions following Israel’s assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran, which has increased hostilities between Israel and Iran. Read more about the Lincoln’s redirection here and further details on the regional tensions here.

While the Navy hasn’t specified the count of surface warships equipped with Starlink terminals, DefenseScoop was informed by defense officials in April that the Department of Defense was assessing the system on two ships, with plans potentially extending to up to 200 ships. Learn more about this development here.

The introduction of SEA2 systems was initially spurred as a passion project by Commander Kevin White, a combat systems officer aboard the USS Lincoln. Notably, the first installation took place on the USS Gerald R. Ford in February 2023. This technological enhancement has significantly uplifted the morale of sailors by easing communication with their families, regardless of their location worldwide. An outstanding example of the system’s benefits was its ability to stream Super Bowl LVIII live, enabling hundreds of sailors to watch the event directly on the ship. More on the inaugural installation and the event’s coverage here.

“Having the ability to reach out to friends or family allows our sailors the opportunity to decompress for a few minutes, and that in turn allows them to be able to operate more efficiently,” Richard Haninger, the Ford’s deployed resiliency educator, said following the installation of the SEA2 system aboard the carrier in February 2023. “It’s not just about reaching back to friends and family, the ability to pay a bill online, take an online class, or even just check the score of the game […] all of this allows our Sailors the chance to access something that lowers their stress level, then return to work after a quick break more focused and able to complete the mission.”

But beyond morale-boosting applications, SEA2 also purportedly offers major benefits for “tactical and business applications” used by sailors on a daily basis, like, say, those used for air wing maintenance or for tracking pay and benefits. As White explained in a May release from the Navy on the initiative, most of these applications function at higher classification levels and are encrypted, but they’re still designed to operate on the commercial internet without jeopardizing information security.

“The fact that we’re not making use of that opportunity with modern technology to allow classified tactical applications to ride the commercial internet is where we are missing out, so we built [SEA2] to be able to do that in the future,” as White put it. “We’re close to demonstrating a couple of those applications, and I am fully confident it will be game changing.” (As of June, the Navy had not authorized the use of classified data with the system)

The Navy also expects to see broad “tangible warfighting impact” from the proliferation of SEA2 across the surface fleet, namely on “recruitment and retention, mental health, cloud services, and work stoppages due to slow and inaccessible websites,” as one service official told DefenseScoop in April.

The Navy isn’t the sole military branch leveraging Starlink for enhanced, continuous internet access for its deployed personnel. The US Space Force signed a $70 million agreement with Starlink’s parent company SpaceX in October 2023 to provide global subscriptions for various users and platforms under the brand Starshield, which is devoted to military applications. Meanwhile, the US Army remains dependent on Starlink while exploring other commercial satellite options to improve command and control capabilities, according to Defense News. SpaceX is also in the process of developing a network of specialized Starshield spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office, as reported by Reuters earlier this year.

However, Starlink is not without its flaws, particularly for military use. According to a technical report by The Debrief, Ukraine has stated that Russian military intelligence has conducted comprehensive cyberattacks attempting to infiltrate the Starlink satellite network, which has been crucial for Ukraine’s military communications since Russia’s invasion in 2022. Experienced hackers have also exposed significant security vulnerabilities in Starlink terminals, as documented by WIRED.

Moreover, the ownership of Starlink by Elon Musk raises further issues. In September 2022, Musk refused to allow Ukrainian forces to use the satellite network for a surprise attack on Russian-controlled Crimea, nurturing concerns among Pentagon leaders about the influence of a private individual with intricate geopolitical views on US military strategies by potentially disabling access to Starlink, as reported by Associated Press. A Pentagon official expressed frustrations to The New Yorker in August 2023 about being at the mercy of Musk’s unilateral decisions in operating a critical tech enterprise.

Given these potential risks, it’s unlikely that Starlink will see deeper integration into the major tactical systems that govern the operation of a Navy warship at sea. But for the moment, it looks as though sailors will at least get a welcome reprieve from the stress and solitude of life on the high seas.

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