Britain prepares to hand military satellite contract to US defence giant

The Telegraph ^ | 15 October 2026 4:46pm BST | Matt Oliver

[E. Pluribus Unum]

US move to curtail Ukraine’s access to Starlink triggers ‘kill switch’ fears around Lockheed Martin’s Skynet bid

An American defence giant has emerged as the frontrunner to build British military satellites, just hours after Ukraine’s access to US systems was curtailed.

In a prospective deal worth up to £2bn, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is pushing to buy a new generation of Skynet satellites from US giant Lockheed Martin.

The Skynet system is a lynchpin of the British military, with the current fleet of satellites produced in the UK by Airbus.

The technology allows the Armed Forces to communicate and share information securely anywhere in the world, even during a conflict.

But with the MoD recommending a switch from British-developed technology to a US alternative, there are warnings that Washington could be handed a veto on how the UK uses the vital system.

Those concerns have grown in the past 24 hours after reports that Ukrainian forces’ access to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service was curbed.

Starlink’s high-speed internet services are vital to Kyiv’s battlefield operations. It prompted Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, to warn that “people will die”

The development follows a row between Kyiv and Washington about Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries, which have pushed up fuel prices and enraged Donald Trump ahead of the US midterm elections in November.

Mr Musk said the restrictions were ultimately a decision for the White House. Connectivity had reportedly been at least partly restored by Wednesday evening.

Opponents of the UK satellite deal also claim that opting to buy US equipment risks thousands of UK jobs, flying in the face of Andy Burnham’s pledge to “back British workers and businesses”.

In anticipation of a potential row, No 10 has already intervened to scrutinise the MoD’s decision, with the Prime Minister expected to have...

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TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: airbus; lockheedmartin; skynet; unitedkingdom

[j.havenfarm]

Skynet? Really?

[MtnClimber]

It will be hard for Britain to afford anything with all those immigrants on welfare. And more every day. They better forget about satellites and save for welfare for their brown invaders.

[Tom Tetroxide]

Skynet is real.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellite)

[Paul R.]

Despite the cost, if I was a reasonably wealthy country (the UK still is, despite weaknesses) I’d want at least a robust, independent system as backup. Politics aside, “the West” would be screwed if, say, China, who certainly has the numbers of hackers, and increasingly good AI to draw upon, hacked into Musk’s / US military satellite comms or other systems.

[Savage Beast]

Maybe a better idea would be for Britain to hand over its government to the Americans!

[DeplorableTrumpSupporter]

Lockheed Martin? Nice...

[Paul R.]

Yup. Not the movie version - it’s real.

The biggest problem for the Ukies was laid out nicely by Gen. Jack Keane: The speed restrictions on Starshield and Starlink mean the Ukies new, fast drone-based interceptors’ control literally can’t keep up with the jet powered Russian drones, and cruise missiles. Those have already been quite effective - the number of civilians killed in Ukraine this year (~15,000) has jumped by roughly 50% compared to 2025. Additionally, the Ukies have trouble getting the warnings of attacks “out” to the public.

OTOH, Starlink, Skynet, and Starshield do not work inside Russia, so where the hell anybody got the idea that restricting such would hamper Ukrainian drone and missile strikes into Russia is pretty disturbing. We have people that ignorant feeding “information” to decision-makers in Trump’s Administration? Or, maybe it is just another attack on the Administration itself, from inside, to discredit it.