Why Britain's defense ministry is spending millions on Musk's SpaceX

Britain's defence ministry is increasing its reliance on Elon Musk's satellite communication services for its military, having spent nearly $40 million on both SpaceX's Starlink service and Starshield One, which is a more militarised version. Here's why. So SpaceX launched Starlink, it started launching in about 2020, but it was Ukraine's use of the network in its war against Russia that really brought it to military's attention. And increasingly since then, militaries have been looking to it to help it with its SATCOM needs. What we now see is Musk increasingly looking to make a distinction between the Starlink service, which he said is aimed at civilian use for consumers and commercial purposes, and in looking to move militaries onto the Starshield service, which he said is specifically designed for military and intelligence use. This deepening dependence on SpaceX comes at a time when Europe generally is looking to increase its independence from the US amid concerns about long-term security commitments. It's also a company that's headed by a man who's publicly been critical of the British Labour Party government. What the British Defence Ministry's response to our information request tells us is how much more expensive Starshield is than Starlink. It can be a lot more expensive both in terms of the data packages, but also the terminals. The interesting thing to look out for now is the degree to which other militaries look to adopt Starshield. What we know is that at least some other US partners are evaluating the service. The New Zealand Defence Force told us they're currently trialling Starshield.