There is a separate entity, StarShield, that the US military uses. I think it's a fully separate set of satellites, but I'm not 100% on that.

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kotaKat 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

IIRC it’s separate sats but same backhaul and they also leverage the same terminals?

	▲	ianburrell an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Starshield means multiple things, or really it is SpaceX business unit with military. Starshield is the name for US military buying Starlink service. It is also SpaceX building Starlink-based satellites for the military. This doesn't have to be communications, the first ones were missile defense trackers. I think the custom satellites came first and they rebranded the communications after it.
	▲	pantsforbirds an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		That seems entirely plausible. I based my comment on one of Elon's tweets (xeets?) about it: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2028261823678759335?s=20

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Bender 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You could be right. I got this from Grok:

- The US military (including the Army) showed early interest in Starlink's potential, but this was exploratory rather than as the inaugural customer.

- As early as 2018–2019, SpaceX received funding and contracts (e.g., a $28.7 million award) to study and test military applications of Starlink technology, focusing on things like aircraft connectivity.

- In October 2019, SpaceX's President Gwynne Shotwell publicly mentioned the US Army as a potential future customer for Starlink.

- In May 2020, the US Army signed an R&D/testing agreement with SpaceX to evaluate Starlink's performance for military field use over three years. This was a trial to assess feasibility (e.g., low latency, bandwidth in remote areas), not a full commercial subscription or "first customer" status. Actual field testing and pilot programs by the Army ramped up later (e.g., 2022 in Europe).

- Starshield is SpaceX's dedicated business unit and satellite network designed specifically for government and national security applications, building directly on the technology and infrastructure of the commercial Starlink constellation.

- While Starlink focuses on providing broadband internet to consumers, businesses, and general users worldwide, Starshield adapts and enhances that foundation for more secure, classified, and military-oriented needs. It was publicly unveiled in December 2022, though related work (including contracts) began earlier.

I was probably conflating the exploratory articles with their intent to go that direction.