https://www.jalopnik.com/2150274/global-starlink-outage-tanked-us-navy-drone-boat-test/

Ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and the Persian Gulf have illustrated the importance of drones and satellite communications in modern warfare, but this shift has created a new dependence on behemoth contractors. Reuters reported on Thursday that a global Starlink outage halted a U.S. Navy test of autonomous boats last year. The incident highlights how reliance on a single system could threaten the country's military capabilities, especially when that system could be shut down by a single billionaire, Elon Musk.

SpaceX's satellite internet service suffered a network outage back in August 2025. While most users were likely shut out of a TV show on Netflix or an email account, the U.S. Navy lost control of 24 autonomous surface vehicles off the coast of California. Operators couldn't connect with the boats for almost an hour. Kirsten Davies, the Pentagon's chief information officer, told Reuters that the Department of Defense "leverages multiple, robust, resilient systems for its broad network."

The massive scale of Starlink's satellite constellation was supposed to provide the resiliency needed for military operations. There are over 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, far more than any of SpaceX's competitors. For comparison, Amazon has just under 240 Kuiper satellites in service. Even with such a large constellation, the Navy still experienced connectivity issues during test operations in April 2025. While the Pentagon can claim that it leverages multiple systems, it's either SpaceX or no one.