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The deal covers development, launch, and operation of Rocket Lab's flat satellite design as part of a broader $615 million award to three contractors
Rocket Lab was awarded a $397 million contract by the U.S. Space Force to develop, launch, and operate a fleet of satellites designed to track airborne threats from orbit, the company said Tuesday.
The contract falls under the Space Force's Space-Based Airborne Moving Target $TGT Indicator program, known as SB-AMTI, a system designed to give the military continuous overhead coverage of airborne threats in regions where manned surveillance aircraft could not safely venture, according to SpaceNews. Rocket Lab's award is part of a broader $615 million package the Space Force split among three contractors, though the agency did not disclose how the total was divided, SpaceNews reported. A third contractor's identity was withheld for operational-security reasons.
Under the contract, Rocket Lab will build what it calls Flatellites — described by the company as a next-generation flat satellite architecture purpose-built for large constellations and fitted with orbital sensors and high-bandwidth links for low-latency data delivery, the company said. Rocket Lab will use its next-generation Neutron rocket to put the satellites into orbit and will run them from secure ground facilities, feeding targeting and track data back to the Space Force. The contract includes an option for additional satellites.
