The UK has spent nearly $40 million on SpaceX satellite services, increasing its reliance on Elon Musk’s company for military communications. The spending includes services from Starlink and Starshield, SpaceX’s satellite networks for commercial and government users.
The UK’s Defence Ministry disclosed the figures following a freedom of information request. Britain currently has around 1,000 Starshield terminals and 500 Starlink terminals. It has spent about £13 million ($17.6 million) on Starshield, including terminals and airtime, and another £16.5 million on Starlink.
The disclosure also makes the UK the first country outside the US to publicly acknowledge using Starshield. SpaceX markets Starshield for government and national security operations, while Starlink is mainly aimed at consumer and commercial customers.
The UK Defence Ministry said it began using Starlink in mid-2022. It later started moving operational military communications traffic to Starshield. According to the ministry, the change followed a SpaceX requirement that Starlink be used only for “morale, welfare, recreation and training purposes.”
The ministry said Starshield provides “enhanced encryption, military-specific terms of service, the highest level of network prioritisation, flexible licensing arrangements, and expanded coverage.”
For the UK, Starshield uses the same satellite constellation, ground stations and terrestrial infrastructure as Starlink. However, it operates through dedicated terminals and separate ground-based network gateways.
Starshield is also significantly more expensive. The Defence Ministry said a five-terabyte Starshield plan costs £5,500 per month, while an unlimited plan costs £25,000 per month. UK Starlink business customers can pay around £1,830 per month for two terabytes of global data.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has argued that militaries should use Starshield instead of Starlink for sensitive operations. Starshield is based on Starlink technology but is designed for government and national security customers.
The UK also operates its own Skynet military satellite communications network and holds a stake in Eutelsat. However, the growing use of Starshield highlights Europe’s reliance on US-based satellite infrastructure for defence communications.
New Zealand is also trialling Starshield to “investigate its usefulness” in supporting military operations.
