What is Starshield, SpaceX’s military version of Starlink?

Ukraine said on Wednesday that Elon Musk’s SpaceX had restricted “military-grade” Starlink services, hampering Ukrainian drone strike missions and air defenses.

The complaint has drawn renewed attention to the distinction between Starlink, SpaceX’s commercial satellite internet service, and Starshield , a military version developed for the Pentagon.

While Musk has said the two systems are separate, in many cases they share the same underlying satellite technology.

“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government,” Musk said on Wednesday in a post on X, adding that any limits on speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military or the president. “Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”

Starlink, the main profit engine of SpaceX, is a satellite internet network of more than 11,000 satellites that beam broadband service directly to user terminals about the size of a folded newspaper. Its roughly 13 million subscribers range from households and hikers to shipping companies and major airlines.

Since launching its first Starlink satellites in 2019 aboard reusable SpaceX rockets, the company has built a vast low-Earth-orbit constellation that blankets much of the planet, delivering faster connections than traditional communications satellites, which typically operate much farther from Earth and in far smaller numbers.

Starlink gave Ukraine a critical communications advantage early in the war, reshaping how militaries operate on the battlefield. But Musk has restricted Starlink for certain military uses while highlighting Starshield, a more secure network developed for government and military missions.

Starshield is a SpaceX business unit that develops military and intelligence satellite systems for the Pentagon.

While its missions are separate from Starlink’s commercial broadband service, the distinction is not always clear-cut: Starshield’s secure communications services use enhanced encryption and dedicated terminals, but rely on the vast Starlink constellation as their backbone.

Starshield leverages the technology, engineering and operational experiences of Starlink, according to SpaceX. In addition to secure communications, the company says the militarized version can also provide users with Earth observation and the ability to integrate sensors or other payloads.

The Pentagon, Starshield’s largest customer, has spent billions of dollars on both Starlink and Starshield services. It has also bought dedicated Starshield satellites, including communications spacecraft for missile-warning missions and a spy constellation for the National Reconnaissance Office, Reuters reported in 2024.

Questions over the relationship between Starlink and Starshield have persisted since Russia threatened Western satellites supporting Ukraine in 2022. SpaceX unveiled Starshield later that year, but the secrecy surrounding national security space programs has left the precise boundaries between the two systems opaque.

Those distinctions became a point of contention earlier this year when the Pentagon clashed with SpaceX over higher prices for satellite services used by military drones during the Iran conflict, Reuters reported.

SpaceX argued that some customers paying roughly $5,000 per terminal for Starlink should instead have been using a Starshield service costing about $25,000 per terminal.

Britain has also adopted Starshield. Under that arrangement, the service uses the same satellite constellation, ground stations and terrestrial infrastructure as Starlink, but operates through dedicated terminals and separate network gateways, Britain’s defense ministry has told Reuters.

Other U.S. partners are evaluating the system as well. New Zealand is doing a trial of Starshield to assess its usefulness for military operations, the New Zealand Defence Force previously told Reuters.

乌克兰周三表示，埃隆·马斯克的SpaceX公司限制了“军用级”星链服务，阻碍了乌克兰的无人机打击任务和防空行动。

该投诉再次引起了人们对 SpaceX 的商业卫星互联网服务 Starlink 与为五角大楼开发的军用版本 Starshield 之间区别的关注。

虽然马斯克曾表示这两个系统是独立的，但在很多情况下，它们共享相同的底层卫星技术。

马斯克周三在SpaceX上发文称：“星盾系统由美国政府拥有和控制。”他还补充说，任何速度或使用限制均由美国军方或总统决定。“星链是SpaceX拥有和控制的商业服务。星链的使用仅限于民用或防御活动，不得用于进攻性军事行动，因为这样做对一家商业公司来说是不合适的。”

星链（Starlink）是SpaceX的主要盈利引擎，它是一个由超过11000颗卫星组成的卫星互联网网络，可将宽带服务直接传输到用户终端，这些终端的大小与折叠报纸相仿。其约1300万用户涵盖了从家庭用户、徒步旅行者到航运公司和大型航空公司等各类群体。

自 2019 年使用 SpaceX 可重复使用的火箭发射首批星链卫星以来，该公司已建立了一个庞大的近地轨道星座，覆盖了地球的大部分地区，提供的连接速度比传统通信卫星更快。传统通信卫星通常在距离地球更远的地方运行，数量也少得多。

星链在战争初期为乌克兰提供了至关重要的通信优势，重塑了战场上的军事作战方式。但马斯克限制了星链的军事用途，同时大力推广星盾（Starshield），这是一个专为政府和军事任务开发的更安全的网络。

Starshield 是 SpaceX 的一个业务部门，为五角大楼开发军事和情报卫星系统。

虽然 Starshield 的任务与 Starlink 的商业宽带服务是分开的，但这种区别并不总是很明确：Starshield 的安全通信服务使用增强的加密和专用终端，但依赖于庞大的 Starlink 星座作为其骨干网络。

据SpaceX公司称，Starshield充分利用了Starlink的技术、工程和运营经验。该公司表示，除了安全通信外，这款军用版Starshield还能为用户提供地球观测功能，并可集成传感器或其他有效载荷。

据路透社2024年报道，五角大楼是“星盾”计划的最大客户，已在“星链”和“星盾”服务上投入数十亿美元。五角大楼还购买了专用的“星盾”卫星，包括用于导弹预警任务的通信卫星和为国家侦察局部署的间谍星座。

自 2022 年俄罗斯威胁要摧毁支持乌克兰的西方卫星以来，关于星链和星盾之间关系的疑问一直存在。SpaceX 于同年晚些时候推出了星盾，但围绕国家安全太空计划的保密性使得这两个系统之间的确切界限变得模糊不清。

据路透社报道，今年早些时候，五角大楼与SpaceX就伊朗冲突期间军用无人机使用的卫星服务价格上涨问题发生冲突，这些区别成为了争论的焦点。

SpaceX 认为，一些为 Starlink 每个终端支付约 5000 美元的客户本应使用 Starshield 服务，该服务每个终端的成本约为 25000 美元。

英国也采用了星盾计划。英国国防部告诉路透社，根据这项协议，该服务使用与星链相同的卫星星座、地面站和地面基础设施，但通过专用终端和独立的网络网关运行。

其他美国伙伴国也在评估该系统。新西兰国防军此前告诉路透社，新西兰正在进行“星盾”系统的试验，以评估其在军事行动中的效用。