Elon Musk has dismissed reports claiming his space company Starlink has increased fees for Pentagon LUCAS kamikaze drones during the 2026 US-Iran conflict. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk called the report “bs,” attributing it to a leak by a former AWS employee no longer in government. “This bs “story” was leaked by an AWS stooge who no longer works for the government btw,” he wrote. Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that 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 connection per terminal while effectively using a higher tier of service worth closer to $25,000. The disagreement over Starlink’s use on LUCAS suicide drones, the report said, is part of increasing tensions between SpaceX and the Pentagon over Starlink pricing in recent months. “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,” the report said.The report was widely shared by users on X. Responding to one such post, Musk said: “Almost everything you’re saying is false and simply copying fake news from other accounts. There is a US government arm of SpaceX called Starshield, which has a different set of satellites than Starlink, which is for civilian use. The company that makes the suicide drones incorrectly used the civilian system, instead of the Starshield”.
Pentagon denies reports of clash with SpaceX over Starlink price
In a post on X, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell denied the report, stating it was “wrong”. “The Fake News media has the story wrong, again. @SpaceX remains a strong and valued partner to the Department of War. The claims in this article are simply not based in reality and do not reflect the close, effective collaboration between our teams,” Parnell wrote in the post.
