The UK Ministry of Defence has disclosed that it spent more than €34 million on satellite services from SpaceX, deepening Britain's reliance on the US company and making it the first country outside the United States to publicly confirm that it uses Starshield.
The figures emerged in a response to a Reuters query. Starshield is SpaceX's service for military and intelligence satellite communications, built on a constellation of hundreds of satellites in the service of the US military. It is based on the technology of the commercial Starlink network but operates independently of it.
According to the ministry, Britain operates around 1,000 Starshield terminals and 500 Starlink terminals. Spending on Starshield, including terminals and connectivity fees, came to about £13 million (€15.1 million), while Starlink accounted for £16.5 million (€19.2 million). Starshield terminals cost between £4,000 and £7,000 each, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters — twice the price of a business-grade Starlink terminal.
London began using Starlink in mid-2022 and has been shifting operational military communications traffic onto Starshield. The ministry said it chose Starshield after SpaceX imposed rules restricting Starlink to "troop welfare, well-being, recreation and training" purposes. Starshield, it said, offers "enhanced encryption, military-specific terms of use, highest network prioritisation, flexible licensing models and extended coverage". The first dedicated Starshield terminals were bought last year.
The disclosure lands as European governments try to become less dependent on US satellite operators for both commercial and military communications. Strategic autonomy dominated this week's International Space Summit in Paris, where geopolitical tensions have put the issue under growing pressure. Britain already runs its own military communications satellite network, Skynet, and holds a stake in the European operator Eutelsat — the only operator besides Starlink with a fully functioning global constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit.
