WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract to build a constellation of satellites designed to track airborne targets from orbit, marking one of the Pentagon’s biggest bets yet on shifting battlefield surveillance missions from aircraft to space.
The agreement, announced May 29, covers the first increment of a space-based Air Moving Target Indicator, or AMTI, network. The program is intended to detect, track and maintain custody of airborne targets including fighter aircraft, bombers, cruise missiles and potentially hypersonic weapons.
The Space Systems Command said the award, issued through an Other Transaction Authority agreement, is intended to accelerate deployment of a space-based sensing layer capable of tracking airborne threats on a global basis.
The contract represents a significant step in a broader Pentagon effort to move military sensing functions traditionally performed by aircraft into proliferated satellite constellations. Military officials argue that satellites can provide broader coverage and greater survivability as adversaries field sophisticated anti-access and area-denial capabilities.
The Space Force has not disclosed how many satellites SpaceX will build, but officials have said the architecture will consist of a proliferated constellation in low Earth orbit.
