Elon Musk has the Product of the Year 2022.
This product is Starlink, the safe satellite tv for pc web entry service, provided by his aerospace firm SpaceX. The service is used significantly by civilians in areas beneath assault by Russia, and in areas the place infrastructure has been destroyed.
Government officers and armed forces make use of the service on the bottom as a result of it is safe.
SpaceX’s satellites are additionally serving to Ukrainian army drones destroy Russian tanks and military vehicles. The drones are outfitted with anti-tank grenades to be launched at targets.
The Drone War
Faced with Russian assaults towards Ukrainian infrastructure, Starlink has develop into the one technique of communication for the Ukrainian armed forces on the entrance.
“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 middle of the geopolitical scene.
This new publicity led the billionaire to play diplomat. He proposed a peace plan to place an finish to the Russia-Ukraine battle, which has lasted for nearly 9 months and is escalating.
The richest man on this planet fears that this battle will flip into World War III, with the potential of deployment of nuclear weapons. This is how he defined why his peace plan requested Ukraine to desert its area of Crimea, annexed in 2014 to Russia, and to not develop into a member of NATO and the European Union, two organizations which Russian President Vladimir Putin considers a risk to his nation’s sovereignty.
Involvement in worldwide geopolitical affairs, nonetheless, has a restrict for the billionaire. And he simply drew that purple line. Musk says he is not occupied with constructing weapons of any form. Even battle drones don’t curiosity him, regardless of the technological advances of Tesla, which is creating Optimus, a humanoid robotic.
The billionaire made this revelation on Twitter.
He began by posting a touch upon the usage of drones within the Russian-Ukrainian battle.
“Drone War I,” the billionaire posted on October 18, with an article from The Independent, a British newspaper, which explains that the killer drones have been vying for supremacy within the battle.
‘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 have been going to develop into the way forward for battle.
“Locally autonomous drone warfare is where the future will be,” the tech tycoon mentioned in a hearth chat, through 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 current.
It was on this context of drone warfare that, on October 18, a Twitter consumer requested Musk if Tesla was going to fabricate a (battle) drone.
“They say Turkish one’s are best, Will there be a Tesla drone?” the consumer posted.
To keep away from confusion, the billionaire rephrased the consumer’s query in his reply earlier than answering it.
“Should I make weapons?” Musk mentioned. “Ideally, not.”
The billionaire’s assertion led to many feedback from followers, endorsing his need to not make weapons.
“No,” commented one in every of his followers.
“A BIG No!!!” added one other Twitter consumer.
“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 consumer.
“Not war drones! Just for filming and light shows!☮️💫” mentioned one other Twitter consumer.
