{"id":43228,"date":"2026-05-29T01:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/us-space-force-confirms-spacex-will-build-sensor-to-shooter-targeting-network\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T01:50:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:50:00","slug":"us-space-force-confirms-spacex-will-build-sensor-to-shooter-targeting-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/us-space-force-confirms-spacex-will-build-sensor-to-shooter-targeting-network\/","title":{"rendered":"US Space Force confirms SpaceX will build sensor-to-shooter targeting network"},"content":{"rendered":"

SpaceX has won a lucrative contract to provide the US military with a means of distributing space-based sensing and targeting data, forming the \u201cbackbone\u201d of a rearchitected network after separate Pentagon initiatives stalled, officials announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Space Systems Command, the Space Force\u2019s primary procurement and acquisition center, announced the $2.29 billion firm-fixed-price agreement, confirming long-simmering reports that the Pentagon was likely to tap SpaceX for a new communications network in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX\u2019s selection for the Space Data Network (SDN) Backbone contract \u201caccelerates the delivery of a resilient, high-speed communications network in space,\u201d Space Systems Command said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The network will be based on technology originally developed for SpaceX\u2019s Starlink global Internet constellation. SpaceX already builds and launches specially designed satellites, called Starshield, for military applications. The SDN Backbone network in low-Earth orbit (LEO) will presumably use the Starshield platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis award will enhance the network with an expanded optically interconnected mesh of satellites delivering worldwide tactical communications and broadband communication services,\u201d Space Systems Command said.<\/p>\n

Col. Ryan Frazier, acting Space Force portfolio acquisition executive for Space-Based Sensing and Targeting, said the network \u201cleverages the best of commercial innovation\u201d and will be a \u201chuge benefit and enabler\u201d for US military forces. The network \u201cacts as a core communications layer for the USSF war-fighting systems, ensuring our sensors and shooters are connected continuously, globally and securely,\u201d Frazier said in a press release.<\/p>\n

Changing midstream<\/h2>\n

This may sound familiar to anyone who has kept up with the evolution of a Pentagon office named the Space Development Agency. Established in 2019, SDA started launching prototypes for a constellation of missile-tracking and data-relay satellites in 2023. The idea was to rapidly procure, develop, and field new generations of tracking and data \u201ctransport\u201d satellites every two years. SDA\u2019s strategy was to cast a wide net across the US space industry, using satellites and sensors developed by many companies.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

But SDA\u2019s architecture stalled, and military officials blamed the delays on bottlenecks in satellite supply chains and difficulties integrating the network and its numerous contractors. The Government Accountability Office last year also identified technical problems that slowed the program\u2019s development and adoption.<\/p>\n

The first budget request from the second Trump administration last year revealed a change in the Pentagon\u2019s thinking. In budget documents, White House officials mentioned a new program called \u201cpLEO SATCOM\u201d or \u201cMILNET\u201d while proposing to eliminate funding for the next tranche of data transport satellites from the Space Development Agency. MILNET has since been renamed the Space Data Network.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A stack of 21 SDA data transport satellites manufactured by York Space Systems was launched last September.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n York Space Systems<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Lawmakers have voiced concerns about moving away from SDA\u2019s original strategy, which leaned on competition and open architectures, and giving the network to a single company. Space Systems Command said Tuesday that the Space Data Network will work with \u201cmultiple vendors\u201d with plans to \u201cexpand its participants over the summer.\u201d These participants may include companies with their own budding broadband constellations, such as Amazon.<\/p>\n

The command did not offer further details on how it will ensure competition or open standards, but officials said SDA\u2019s previous data transport architecture, which still has satellites under construction awaiting launch, will \u201ccome together\u201d with the Space Force\u2019s Space Data Network procurement efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur acquisition strategy is designed to foster competition and broaden our industrial base,\u201d said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Fry, SDN Backbone system program manager, in a statement. \u201cWe aren\u2019t trading speed for scale; we are demanding both.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other major line of effort at SDA is focused on deploying a constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites to detect and track missile launches. These tracking satellites will fly much closer to Earth than the Space Force\u2019s legacy missile-warning satellites, with improved capability to monitor emerging threats like hypersonic missiles. SDA\u2019s tracking and transport layers were intended to work together to detect missile threats and provide targeting data for interceptors to take them out. The program predated President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement last year of plans for a Golden Dome missile shield, but SDA\u2019s tracking and data transport network would underpin such a missile defense program.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has not announced any changes to SDA\u2019s missile tracking layer, but the data transport network accounted for the majority of the agency\u2019s satellites. The Space Force\u2019s decision to turn over the data relay backbone to SpaceX will shrink SDA\u2019s portfolio, raising questions about the agency\u2019s long-term future.<\/p>\n

While SDN Backbone is a new program, SpaceX brings many of the advantages of incumbency. SpaceX has more than 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, primarily for civilian use, and hundreds more Starshield satellites for military use. Starshield satellites already provide connectivity for various military weapons systems, including one-way attack drones used for attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n

SDA has awarded contracts to date for approximately 340 data transport satellites. Those satellites, under development by York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Rocket Lab, carried an average cost of about $16 million per spacecraft, significantly more than the cost of a single satellite from SpaceX\u2019s Starlink or Starshield assembly line. SDA has not announced plans to cancel any of its existing data relay satellite contracts.<\/p>\n

Last year, when SDN was still known as MILNET, a Space Force commander responsible for operating the military\u2019s communications satellites said the network would comprise some 480 satellites operated by SpaceX and overseen by a military mission director. Ars asked Space Systems Command for an update on the number of satellites for SDN Backbone and who will operate them, and we will provide an update when we receive a response.<\/p>\n

Whatever it includes, SpaceX is required to deliver a \u201cfully operational prototype capability\u201d for the SDN Backbone by the end of 2027, the Space Force said. With this delivery, SpaceX will assume a larger role in direct combat support to go along with its position as the world\u2019s leading commercial launch provider and satellite manufacturer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SpaceX has won a lucrative contract to provide the US military with a means of distributing space-based sensing and targeting data, forming the \u201cbackbone\u201d of a rearchitected network after separate Pentagon initiatives stalled, officials announced Tuesday. Space Systems Command, the Space Force\u2019s primary procurement and acquisition center, announced the $2.29 billion firm-fixed-price agreement, confirming long-simmering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}