Calls to nationalize Elon Musk’s SpaceX have resurfaced amid a dispute over restrictions on satellite services used by Ukraine’s military, raising questions about private control of critical military technology.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters over the weekend that restrictions on Starlink and its military counterpart, Starshield, are preventing Ukraine from using certain drones to intercept Russian attacks.
“Unfortunately, we can’t use Starlink or Starshield technology on our territory today to shoot down jet-powered Shaheds,” Zelensky said. “They fly, and we can stop them with aircraft and other air defense, but we don’t use Starlink for that, unfortunately.”
The Dispute
Zelensky said he was told the restrictions were due to technical issues, although the systems appeared to be working normally across the European Union. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has also tried to contact SpaceX about the problem, without success. “Nobody there is answering our military,” he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Starshield is “not at this moment available to Ukraine,” adding: “That’s under conversation. It’s under discussion right now about how they would want to use it.” Rubio said the US government was not responsible for the service outage in Ukraine. “I’m not sure Zelenskyy knows what he’s talking about,” he said.
The Nationalization Argument
For some critics, Zelensky’s account is evidence that SpaceX has too much control over military operations. “We’ve got to nationalize SpaceX. We have no choice,” Lindsay Beyerstein, an investigative journalist, wrote on Bluesky. “We can’t operate our military without them and we can’t trust them to serve our national interest. There is literally no other option.”
For now, bringing some or all of SpaceX under the control of the federal government would be complicated. The company debuted on the Nasdaq in June with a record-breaking IPO and has since grown to an approximately $2 trillion market capitalization.
How Dependent Is the US Military on SpaceX?
SpaceX’s relationship with Washington remains substantial. Based on regulatory filings, an estimated 20% of the company’s revenue comes from US government contracts, down from more than 80% in the early 2020s.
The US military relies on SpaceX for satellite communications and national security launches. SpaceX has competitors, including SES, Iridium Communications, and Viasat. But none currently matches the scale of its Starlink satellite network, which had more than 11,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit as of October.
According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, SpaceX received most of the $660 million in orders awarded under the Space Force’s Proliferated Low Earth Orbit program as of 2025, despite 20 approved vendors. In April 2025, the Space Force selected SpaceX for 28 of 54 planned national security missions and awarded it a contract worth up to $5.9 billion. More recently, SpaceX secured $4.2 billion to develop hundreds of missile-tracking satellites for the Pentagon’s Golden Dome program.
Could Washington Actually Nationalize SpaceX?
Nationalizing a $2 trillion publicly traded company would be an expensive and legally complicated undertaking. The idea has surfaced before. During Musk’s public feud with President Donald Trump last year, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon suggested using the Defense Production Act to bring SpaceX under temporary government control. The law gives Washington broad authority to direct private industry to support national defense, but it does not provide blanket authority to take ownership of a company.
A broader government takeover would raise Fifth Amendment questions about “just compensation” when private property is taken for public use. Acquiring SpaceX could carry an enormous cost for taxpayers, given its massive valuation.
The Bottom Line
Calls to nationalize SpaceX have resurfaced after Zelensky said Starlink and Starshield restrictions are blocking Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russian drones. Secretary of State Marco Rubio disputed Zelensky’s account, saying Starshield is not currently available to Ukraine and is “under discussion.” Nationalizing a $2 trillion company would be legally and financially complicated, but critics say private control of critical military technology is untenable. SpaceX provides most of the Pentagon’s satellite communications and national security launches.
My Opinion
Elon Musk controls the satellite network that Ukraine relies on to defend itself. He can slow it down. He can block it. He can do it without answering calls from Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. And when the President of Ukraine complains, the US Secretary of State says, “I’m not sure Zelenskyy knows what he’s talking about.”
This is what happens when critical military infrastructure is owned by a single private citizen. Musk is not an elected official. He is not accountable to voters. He is not subject to the same oversight as the Pentagon. But he has the power to determine whether Ukrainian drones can intercept Russian attacks.
The calls to nationalize SpaceX are understandable. But nationalizing a $2 trillion company would be a legal and financial nightmare. There is a simpler solution: the US government should build its own satellite communications capacity, or diversify its contracts so that no single company has this much leverage. That would take years and cost billions. But it would be cheaper than trusting a billionaire with the fate of a democracy.
