AST SpaceMobile Wins SDA Contract
AST SpaceMobile has secured a demonstration contract with the Space Development Agency (SDA) for tactical satellite communications (TACSATCOM). The company will provide its services via its BlueBird satellites. The move is seen as part of a potential shift toward subscription-based models for future SDA procurements, aimed at avoiding vendor lock-in.
- The firm-fixed-price agreement is valued at approximately $30 million and was awarded as an Other Transaction (OT) agreement under the SDA's Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (HALO) program. - On-orbit demonstrations are scheduled to be completed by December 2027 and will focus on validating the integration of AST SpaceMobile's commercial satellite infrastructure with existing tactical military radios. - This award is the first to be issued by the SDA from a pre-approved pool of 19 commercial vendors selected for the HALO program in 2024 to compete for prototype demonstration orders. - The demonstration falls under the Tranche 2 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T2DES) project, which aims to test commercial solutions to reduce risk for future operational layers of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). - The PWSA is the SDA's foundational mesh network of hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbit intended to provide the backbone for the Pentagon's Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative. - AST SpaceMobile's next-generation BlueBird satellites feature some of the largest commercial communications arrays in low-Earth orbit at nearly 2,400 square feet, designed to deliver peak data rates of up to 120 Mbps. - The contract was awarded to AST SpaceMobile USA, a wholly-owned defense subsidiary, marking its first prime contract award. - The SDA employs a "spiral development" model, fielding new satellite capabilities in two-year cycles called "tranches" to rapidly integrate commercial technology and accelerate delivery to the warfighter.
