SpaceX wins $1.6B to launch Space Force ‘sensing and targeting’ sats

WASHINGTON — The Space Force has tapped SpaceX for two more launches, worth $1.6 billion, under its newly-expanded National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program, Space Systems Command (SSC) announced today.

NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 is the Space Force’s program for procuring commercial-style launches to: take payloads to easier-to-reach orbits; loft payloads with less mass; and/or support missions missions that are not absolute must-goes. Under the Lane 1 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract vehicle, pre-qualified vendors compete for task orders for individual launches.

The SpaceX task order is the first to be awarded since the service’s July 17 announcement of a massive $11.4 billion plus-up to the contract’s ceiling ― bringing the total amount to $17 billion ― to cover an increase in planned Lane 1 launches from 60 to 170 between 2025 and 2034.

The two new task orders cover launches in 2027 of an unknown number of satellites (SpaceX’s Falcon 9 often carries numerous birds to low Earth orbit) for the service’s Space Based Sensing and Targeting (SBST) portfolio acquisition executive (PAE) office, according to the announcement.

SSC did not respond to an inquiry from Breaking Defense about the types and numbers of satellites included in the two new launches.

However, one of the key responsibilities for the SBST PAE is management of the Space Fore’s new “Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator (SB-AMTI)” program. The planned SB-AMTI satellites are designed to “complement” the Air Force’s E-7 Wedgetail, which was developed to replace the aging E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft. The move to space is seen by the Department of the Air Force as necessary due to ever-more sophisticated anti-access/area-denial systems available to potential adversaries.

The PAE on May 29 announced a $4.16 billion task order to SpaceX to “accelerate” the SB-AMTI program, and noted that there will be more to come. SpaceX is one of nine firms chosen to compete for those orders under an Other Transaction Authority contract vehicle. The service has declined to reveal the overall value of the contract, or name the other companies involved in the program.