The U.S. Space Force’s Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator program has expanded to 12 participating companies, with Blue Origin, Boeing and commercial radar-satellite operator Umbra appearing in public contract records alongside nine previously identified vendors. The broader supplier pool gives the service additional spacecraft, sensor, processing and integration options as it works toward fielding an initial satellite constellation in 2028.
The 12 companies now associated with SB-AMTI are SpaceX, Systems & Technology Research, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Wildstar, Visto 360 AI, Rocket Lab, L3Harris Technologies, York Space Systems, Blue Origin, Boeing and Umbra.
The first nine companies received competitive prototype Other Transaction Authority agreements in March 2026. Blue Origin, Boeing and Umbra subsequently entered the program through agreements that became visible in public-facing federal records, although the Space Force has not detailed their individual technical approaches or potential roles.
Membership in the vendor pool does not indicate that all 12 companies have received equivalent development or production work. The agreements establish a contracting framework through which Space Systems Command can issue task orders, compare competing technologies and add capabilities without conducting a separate full-scale procurement for every requirement.
SpaceX leads initial constellation deployment
The Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion OTA agreement on May 29 for the initial SB-AMTI capability. The company is expected to develop and integrate a constellation of satellites intended to detect, track and support the targeting of airborne threats globally.
Space Systems Command describes SB-AMTI as a system of systems combining space-based sensors, secure high-speed communications and resilient ground processing. The initial constellation is scheduled to provide an early operational capability by 2028, reducing surveillance gaps in areas where traditional airborne sensors could be constrained or placed at risk.
A second group of task orders followed in August. Space Systems Command awarded three agreements worth a combined $615 million to Rocket Lab, STR and a third company whose identity the service withheld for operational-security reasons. Public contract records indicate that Wildstar received an SB-AMTI agreement valued at approximately $72 million, while STR’s agreement is listed at about $146 million.
Rocket Lab disclosed that its share could be worth up to $397 million. The company will develop, launch and operate multiple “Flatellite” spacecraft equipped with space-based sensors and low-latency, high-bandwidth communications. Rocket Lab plans to launch the satellites aboard its Neutron medium-lift rocket, linking spacecraft production, launch and constellation operations under one supplier.
The three values together account for roughly the announced $615 million total, although the Space Force has not formally confirmed Wildstar as the undisclosed third recipient.
Moving an airborne radar mission into space
Airborne moving target indication has traditionally depended on large crewed surveillance aircraft carrying powerful radars, including the U.S. Air Force’s E-3 Sentry and planned E-7 Wedgetail fleets. These aircraft can maintain detailed tracks of aircraft, drones and cruise missiles, but their operating areas may be restricted by long-range air defenses and other anti-access systems.
SB-AMTI is intended to complement airborne and ground-based sensors by observing contested airspace from orbit. A distributed satellite architecture could provide wider geographic access and reduce dependence on a limited number of high-value aircraft, while allowing observations from several sensor types to be combined into a common track.
Performing the mission from space presents substantial engineering challenges. Sensors must discriminate moving targets from terrain and other background clutter while traveling at orbital velocity. The architecture must also maintain sufficient coverage, rapidly hand tracks between spacecraft, process large data volumes and deliver targeting information with operationally useful latency.
The composition of the vendor pool reflects those different requirements. It includes established defense primes with radar and mission-integration experience, commercial satellite manufacturers, launch providers, sensor specialists and software-focused companies. Blue Origin, Boeing and Umbra add further diversity, but their specific SB-AMTI concepts have not been disclosed.
Umbra operates a commercial synthetic-aperture radar constellation, while Boeing has experience in both military spacecraft and airborne surveillance systems. Blue Origin has developed launch vehicles, spacecraft platforms and in-space infrastructure. Those existing capabilities could be relevant to SB-AMTI, but the companies’ contract listings do not establish which technologies they will supply.
The Space Force is deliberately retaining several competing approaches instead of committing the program to one sensor configuration or prime contractor. Officials have said different sensing technologies can offer distinct advantages depending on weather, terrain, geography and the type of airborne threat being tracked.
The next important milestones will be additional task-order awards, the selection of technologies for operational deployment and the beginning of satellite launches ahead of the planned 2028 initial capability. Those decisions will determine whether the 12-company pool remains a broad experimentation framework or narrows into a smaller group responsible for building and operating the production architecture.
