Re:FAA targeting Verizon contract in favor of SpaceX
by kjellsbells on Saturday March 01, 2025 @03:06PM
(#43223110)
You can admire SpaceX's innovation and dislike Verizon while still being concerned that this is a land grab by Musk.
We are talking about the FENS contract here that was awarded after a competitive bid process in 2023. Verizon and their partners (eg Saab aerospace) beat out HarrisL3, Raytheon, and some others.
If Musk is asserting that the contract was improperly awarded, then there are very well established processes to appeal. (And such appeals would also stop work on the project pending resolution.)
However what I see instead is that he is simply instructing the FAA to cancel the deal and use Starlink/SpaceX instead. That is at best murky and at worst corrupt.
As for Musk's companies' ability to execute on the details of the contract, knowing how to make cellphone calls via a satellite is a million miles away from knowing how to migrate a massive, and safety critical, telecommunications infrastructure from 2000s-era tech to 2024.
Chestertons fence and strict budgetary discipline are both needed, and one cannot ignore the first, claim the second, but hope to get by on hubris.
We are talking about the FENS contract here that was awarded after a competitive bid process in 2023. Verizon and their partners (eg Saab aerospace) beat out HarrisL3, Raytheon, and some others.
https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/safety-ops-regulation...
If Musk is asserting that the contract was improperly awarded, then there are very well established processes to appeal. (And such appeals would also stop work on the project pending resolution.)
However what I see instead is that he is simply instructing the FAA to cancel the deal and use Starlink/SpaceX instead. That is at best murky and at worst corrupt.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/lawmakers-question-musk-inf...
As for Musk's companies' ability to execute on the details of the contract, knowing how to make cellphone calls via a satellite is a million miles away from knowing how to migrate a massive, and safety critical, telecommunications infrastructure from 2000s-era tech to 2024.
Chestertons fence and strict budgetary discipline are both needed, and one cannot ignore the first, claim the second, but hope to get by on hubris.