Company has grown from a for-hire rocket launcher into a major national-security contractor
SpaceX is deepening its ties with U.S. intelligence and military agencies, winning at least one major classified contract and expanding a secretive company satellite program called Starshield for national-security customers.
The Elon Musk-led company entered into a $1.8 billion classified contract with the U.S. government in 2021, according to company documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal. SpaceX said in the documents that funds from the contract were expected to become an important part of its revenue mix in the coming years. It didn’t disclose the name of the government customer.
The size and secrecy of the agreement illustrate a growing interdependence between SpaceX—a dominant force in the space industry—and the national-security establishment.
SpaceX’s work for U.S. defense clients has long included blasting off classified and military satellites. The Pentagon has more recently done business with SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service, including agreements to pay for Ukrainian internet links during Ukraine’s war with Russia.
Less is known about SpaceX’s Starshield unit, which is tailored for government clients and counts a former Air Force general among its leaders. Starshield won a $70 million award from the military last August to provide communications services to dozens of Pentagon partners. However, the group has largely operated out of the public eye.
“When I’m never sure what I can say in a public forum, I tend to zip it. But I can say that there is very good collaboration between the intelligence community and SpaceX,” Gwynne Shotwell, the company’s president, said at an event last May.
On a webpage made public in late 2022, SpaceX described Starshield as providing satellites capable of handling secure communications, capturing data about Earth or carrying sensors or other observation instruments for the government while in orbit.
Starshield’s online job postings have sought people with top-secret clearances, as well as experience working with the Defense Department and intelligence community.
One advertised position would require the person handling it to represent Starshield to Pentagon combatant commands—divisions that oversee military operations around the world or specific functions, such as transportation and cybersecurity.
A SpaceX spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment.
SpaceX has worked with national-security organizations since it was a startup. Shortly after Musk founded the company in 2002, it won a launch contract with an undisclosed U.S. intelligence customer, the Journal reported almost two decades ago. Later, SpaceX began handling regular launches for military and spy agencies.
The company has also won significant national-security clients for its satellite technologies—a different set of offerings from SpaceX’s traditional work blasting off satellites for those customers. One such client has been the National Reconnaissance Office, according to people familiar with the matter.
Based in a sprawling office park south of Dulles International Airport, the NRO draws staff from different Pentagon branches and the Central Intelligence Agency, who use satellite data to support national-security and civilian agencies in the federal government. Its existence was a classified government secret until 1992.
It couldn’t be determined what satellite technology from SpaceX the NRO has tapped.
An NRO spokesman said the agency develops intelligence products with a range of partners. “We are deepening our relationships with other government agencies, the private sector, academia and other nations,” the spokesman said.
Musk, who also leads Tesla, the social-media company X and other ventures, comes from a Silicon Valley background that sets him apart from the leaders of most prime military contractors.
