Space Force Gives SpaceX $4.2B for Satellites to Track Airborne Targets

The Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract on May 29 to build a constellation of satellites that can sense and track airborne targets from orbit. 

The award is part of the service’s Space-Based Air Moving Target Indication program. Under the contract, SpaceX is scheduled to field “a constellation of satellites” by 2028, though the Space Force did not specify how many the company would deliver.

The announcement follows the service’s selection last month of a vendor pool to compete for task orders from the program The Space Force has declined to name the firms in that pool, citing “operational security” concerns, though SpaceX is now confirmed as one.

The Space Force has been working with the National Reconnaissance Office to develop and fly space-based AMTI prototypes, to see if they can perform a mission from orbit that has traditionally been conducted by ground-based radars and aircraft. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and other officials have said those experiments have proven the viability of space and that the goal is create a multidomain architecture that relies on air, space, and ground sensors to track these targets—one they expect will be more resilient against adversaries’ anti-access/area-denial systems. 

The Space Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request includes $7 billion to procure Space-Based AMTI satellites and $1 billion for a separate effort to conduct ground-moving target indication from orbit. 

“By focusing these capabilities to the space domain, we are providing the joint force with sustained battlespace awareness of contested airspace,” Col. Ryan Frazier, the Space Force’s acting portfolio acquisition executive for space-based sensing and targeting, said in a statement. “We are beginning development and integration efforts immediately to meet the program’s rapid deployment milestones and address emerging national security requirements.”

The contract is SpaceX’s second major deal in just four days, arriving on the heels of a nearly $2.3 billion award to provide satellites for the Space Force’s Space Data Network. And it comes two weeks before the company’s highly-anticipated initial public offering, which is slated for June 12. The company is expected to target a $1.75 trillion valuation.

Despite the company’s recent Space Force contract sweeps—which come in addition to its near-monopoly on U.S. space launch—the military says it does not plan to rely solely on the firm for either program. On Space-Based AMTI, USSF said it will announce “multiple awards in the coming year” with the goal of achieving a “vendor-diverse expansion” of its industrial base. 

“Currently, there are numerous companies in this SB-AMTI vendor pool, including SpaceX; which were selected into this framework through previously awarded competitive OTAs,” the Space Force said. “This award executes the Space Force’s strategy to deliver capability and ensure competition that actively leverages the best available technology across the entire U.S. industrial base to deliver this critical capability.”