SpaceX Wins Space Force Contract For Starshield Satellite Communications Services

SpaceX has reportedly won a $70 million one-year contract to provide satellite communications for the United States Space Force. The rocket company via its Starshield program, provides "secured satellite network for government entities," using its Starlink satellite internet network.

Under the contract, SpaceX, which is a key Pentagon contractor, will reportedly provide support for 54 military "mission partners" across the Department of Defence (DoD) branches. According to a Space Force spokesperson, "The SpaceX contract provides for Starshield end-to-end service (via the Starlink constellation), user terminals, ancillary equipment, network management and other related services."

News of the contract comes amid the controversy surrounding revelations, in a recently released biography Elon Musk, about the SpaceX founder's rejection of Ukraine's request to enable the Starlink network for a planned surprise military attack on a Russian naval fleet.

"Starlink needs to be a civilian network, not a participant to combat," Musk wrote on X. "Starshield will be owned by the US government and controlled by DoD Space Force."

SpaceX launches spy satellites to orbit with its Falcon Heavy rocket, for the Space Force. The company won a contract earlier this year, to provide an unspecified number of Starlink ground terminals for use in Ukraine.

The Starlink network provides global internet access via SpaceX's growing constellation of satellites in low earth orbit -- over 4,740 satellites and counting