Full Breakdown
Space Force Expands Airborne Target Tracking with New Satellite Contracts
8/5/2026, 4:12:58 PM
Core Contract Awards
The U.S. Space Force announced a $615 million award package to three firms for the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator (SB-AMTI) program. Rocket Lab will receive a $397 million firm-fixed-price contract to design, launch and operate a constellation of “Flatellites” – flat-satellite platforms intended for large constellations with low-latency, high-bandwidth links. Systems & Technology Research (STR) of Virginia secured a separate award to provide advanced sensor, signal-processing and artificial-intelligence capabilities. A third contractor was not identified for operational-security reasons. The contracts include options for additional Flatellites, expanding the overall supplier base for the program.
Program Background
SB-AMTI seeks to move airborne surveillance traditionally performed by aircraft into space, delivering persistent tracking of fighter jets, bombers, cruise missiles and emerging hypersonic threats. The effort follows a prior $4.16 billion SpaceX award that established the initial AMTI satellite constellation and operational baseline. The new task order is intended to mature alternative sensing approaches, leverage commercial investment, and preserve competition as the architecture scales.
Companies Involved
- Rocket Lab – Long Beach, California-based launch-vehicle and satellite manufacturer, expanding its military satellite work. The company plans to launch the Flatellites on its next-generation Neutron rocket and operate them from secure facilities.
- Systems & Technology Research (STR) – Virginia defense-technology firm specializing in sensors, signal-processing software, AI and command-and-control systems for national-security customers; has prior DARPA experience integrating commercial spacecraft with advanced processing.
- Unnamed third contractor – Identity withheld for security reasons.
Official Statements & Acquisition Strategy
Space Force officials emphasized that the awards are designed to diversify technical solutions and avoid reliance on a single sensor design. The agency described the $615 million package as its second SB-AMTI task order, aimed at evaluating emerging technologies and ensuring long-term competition within the satellite architecture.
Verbatim Quotes
- “The core focus of this second task order is diversifying our capabilities and ensuring we don’t rely on a single technical solution. With these new partnerships, we are exploring unique innovations and technologies and fundamentally different ways to accomplish the airborne moving target indication mission,” — Col. Ryan Frazier, acting Space Force portfolio acquisition executive for Space-Based Sensing and Targeting
