Musk Says US Military Suicide Drones Used Starlink In Violation Of SpaceX Rules
Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:
SpaceX and the Pentagon have been bickering about the price of using Starshield satellite service during the Iran war, according to a Reuters report published today. It appears that SpaceX asked the military for more money after it started using satellite terminals on "kamikaze" attack drones in Iran.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk claimed the Reuters report is wrong. But Musk also said the military drones initially used the commercial Starlink service instead of the government-specific network, in violation of Starlink's terms of service. Musk blamed the violation on the contractor that built the drones for the government.
The Reuters report, based on Pentagon documents and interviews with sources familiar with the pricing talks, said that SpaceX recently asked the military to pay $25,000 for Starshield access on each kamikaze drone. The Pentagon, which previously paid $5,000 for each connection, objected to the price hike but ultimately agreed to pay it, according to Reuters.
While the $25,000 charge is a monthly fee for the satellite connection provided to a satellite terminal, the terminals are being used with drones that only make one-way trips before hitting targets and detonating on impact.
Starshield is a network for government entities and is based on Starlink technology. Musk wrote in an X post today that the "Reuters article is false." But in the very same post, he seemed to confirm a dispute over how the military used SpaceX satellite technology.
"They made improper use of the Starlink civilian system for military purposes. Direct violation of terms of service," Musk wrote today, seeming to indicate that the military used the commercial Starlink system when it should have been using Starshield.
Musk said later that the drones were configured incorrectly by a military contractor. "There is a US government arm of SpaceX called Starshield, which has a different set of satellites than Starlink, which is for civilian use. The company that makes the suicide drones incorrectly used the civilian system, instead of the Starshield," Musk wrote.
The Pentagon "denied any violation of its agreement with SpaceX," according to Reuters. Starshield terminals sold by SpaceX to the military can connect both to the commercial Starlink satellite constellation and Starshield, the Reuters article said.
The drones in question are part of the Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS), which was made by defense contractor Spektreworks. We contacted Spektreworks today and will update this article if it responds.
Musk previously addressed the military use of SpaceX satellite terminals on drones on March 1, one day after the Iran war began, in response to an X post in which a user posted a picture of one of the drones that appeared to have an integrated satellite terminal.
"It is a violation of commercial Starlink terms of service to use the terminal for weapon systems. This applies to all users and is shut down when discovered," Musk wrote at the time. "There is a separate network called Starshield, which is operated by the US government. This is not under SpaceX control."
Within weeks of the US launching strikes in Iran, "SpaceX executives met Pentagon officials and argued the military was underpaying for the service," the Reuters article said.
"SpaceX argued the LUCAS drones were operating under conditions that aligned more closely with its aviation tier subscription rather than a lower priced land or mobility service. Pentagon officials argued that the $25,000 price tag-a monthly fee-was designed for aircraft, not kamikaze drones that used [a] Starlink connection for a matter of minutes or hours, according to one of the sources," Reuters reported.
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