After the U.S. began using kamikaze drones against Iran, Elon Musk's company significantly increased the cost of access to Starlink for the Pentagon. According to Reuters, the price for a terminal rose from $5,000 to $25,000, and the disagreements between SpaceX and the U.S. military are becoming increasingly noticeable.
After the U.S. began using kamikaze drones in the war against Iran, SpaceX increased the fee for the Pentagon's access to Starlink fivefold — from $5,000 to $25,000 per terminal.
This was reported by Reuters, citing sources and Pentagon documents.
The dispute concerned the use of Starlink on LUCAS drones — a low-cost strike model similar to the Iranian Shahed.
According to Reuters, the Pentagon initially denied that the rate for aviation platforms could be applied to kamikaze drones, which use the connection for only minutes or hours.
However, in the end, the military agreed to the price increase, which nearly doubled the cost of each LUCAS, which had previously been around $30,000.
Reuters writes that this is just part of a broader tension between SpaceX and the Pentagon over Starlink pricing. Additionally, the parties disagree on the estimated cost of directly connecting phones in Iran via Starlink, which the U.S. considered as a way to help citizens bypass communication shutdowns.
Against this backdrop, the Pentagon's dependence on SpaceX is growing, along with Elon Musk's negotiating power in the U.S. national security sector.
The story of Starlink has shown how much modern armies depend on private technology companies. The more actively the Pentagon uses SpaceX systems in military operations, the greater Elon Musk's influence and his business's impact on U.S. national security.
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