U.S. kamikaze drones, specifically LUCAS models, guided by Elon Musk’s Starlink network, made visible gains in the war against Iran, prompting SpaceX to seek a significant price increase from the Pentagon. SpaceX argued the military was effectively using a higher tier of service, proposing $25,000 per terminal monthly, up from approximately $5,000, and nearly doubling the cost of each LUCAS drone from an initial $30,000, which the Pentagon ultimately accepted.
Tensions also arose over SpaceX's proposed $500 million launch fee and $100 million monthly operating cost for a direct-to-cell Starlink service for Iranian citizens to bypass communications blackouts. These disputes underscore the Pentagon's increasing reliance on SpaceX for critical national security infrastructure, granting Musk considerable leverage ahead of a major IPO. Previous Starlink outages during the Ukraine war and U.S. Navy tests highlight the risks of this dependency, as no comparable alternative exists.
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