Starshield throttling: NATO AI system has no kill switch, according to Palantir

According to reports, US tech billionaire Elon Musk personally gave the order to limit: Ukraine is under massive pressure as a result of the throttling of the US Starshield satellite system, which is used for battlefield communications and drone operations. Concerns about dependence on US technology are growing in Europe. The NATO defense alliance uses the Maven AI system from the US software company Palantir.

The system processes massive amounts of data from satellites, radar systems and other sensors to give military personnel a picture of the battlefield and speed decision-making. Palantir is now trying to appease the Europeans. According to the company, the military AI system used by NATO does not have a kill switch. This is an emergency stop switch that can be used to stop or deactivate a technical system.

Louis Mosley, Palantir's top manager for Great Britain and Europe, told the Reuters news agency with regard to the AI ​​platform "Maven Smart System": "There are no emergency shutdown mechanisms. Neither Palantir nor the US government have the ability to intervene from outside and shut down the system.

The system is used by NATO military headquarters and several European armed forces.

"What we've seen in the Starlink news in recent days is extremely concerning," Mosley said. “However, when it comes to Palantir, I can categorically state that customers who have purchased our software have full operational control over that software.”

NATO acquired Maven in 2025 for its High Command of Allied Forces in Europe (SHAPE) and declared in June of this year that the system had reached "full technical operational capability."

However, some European NATO members such as Germany and France have not adopted Maven for their own armed forces. They cited concerns about dependence on a US company given frequent tensions between Trump and European leaders.

In April this year, the head of Germany's cyber command ruled out purchasing Maven, saying it was "unthinkable" for employees of a private company to have access to the country's national military database.

Mosley said it was “entirely at the customer’s discretion” whether Palantir employees were involved in operating the system. Such employees are nationals of the respective country and have the required security clearance.

"It can be operated absolutely independently of us, and we have many, many customers around the world - both military and commercial - who do that," said the manager.

Ukraine has been reporting for several days that the use of the military-grade satellite service “Starshield,” which uses SpaceX’s “Starlink” constellation, has been restricted. This caused terminals to stop working on fast-moving platforms, hampering tasks such as deploying interceptor drones to counter Russian attacks.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, Musk is said to have ordered the throttling himself. He had previously referred to the White House, which denied involvement.

Ukrainian and European government officials expressed suspicion that it was a political move. Shortly before, US President Donald Trump had demanded that Ukraine stop attacks on Russian oil refineries.