As US kamikaze drones guided by Elon Musk’s Starlink network began to make visible gains in the war against Iran, senior SpaceX officials raised the price for the Pentagon to access their satellite Wi-Fi network, according to Reuters.
Within weeks of the United States launching its bombing campaign, SpaceX executives met Pentagon officials and argued the military had been paying about $5,000 for a connection per terminal while effectively using a higher tier of service worth closer to $25,000, according to two sources familiar with the matter and Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters.
The disagreement over Starlink’s use on LUCAS kamikaze drones is part of increasing tensions between SpaceX and the Pentagon over Starlink pricing in recent months, according to interviews with five people familiar with the matter and the documents.
The Pentagon, which is seeking to help Iranian citizens bypass government-imposed communications blackouts, has also been at odds with SpaceX over pricing for a plan to provide the populace direct-to-cell connections with Starlink akin to 5G service, two of the sources say.
The ongoing disputes, which have not previously been reported, underscore how the Pentagon’s growing reliance on SpaceX is handing Musk greater leverage over a critical layer of US national security at a time when SpaceX is seeking to boost revenue ahead of an IPO next month that could be among the biggest in history.
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