By Joey Roulette
WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - SpaceX won $1.6 billion in orders from the U.S. Space Force on Wednesday to launch 18 Falcon 9 missions through 2027 carrying Pentagon satellites for detecting and targeting airborne objects, the service said.
The 18 missions were assigned to SpaceX across two task orders under the U.S. Space Force's flagship launch procurement program, in which SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and other U.S. launch firms inducted into the program jockey for
lucrative mission assignments.
SpaceX has bagged at least $7 billion worth of Pentagon contracts this year as the Trump administration has laid groundwork for its Golden Dome missile defense shield, a roughly $185 billion multi-year endeavor heavily featuring Elon Musk's launch and satellite company.
SpaceX in May won $6.5 billion worth of satellite contracts from the U.S. Space Force. That included $4.16 billion for a network of airborne moving target indicator satellites and $2.29 billion three days later for communications satellites that can pass data between missile warning and tracking sensors to interceptors in near real time.
The SpaceX award announced on Wednesday was part of an "unprecedented two-month acquisition timeline," Space Force acquisition official Eric Zarybnisky said in a news release. For years, the service has sought to ramp up the pace with which it buys spacecraft and rocket launches from the private sector.
SpaceX has maintained a wide lead over rivals for Pentagon contracts. In recent years, some U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns that the Pentagon may be relying too heavily on a single vendor. Space Force officials in turn have said they want to stimulate more space industry activity and competition.
ULA, the joint rocket venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin and a longtime Pentagon contractor, has been ensnared in a months-long technical investigation into a faulty booster separation system on its flagship Vulcan rocket, which is certified to launch Pentagon satellites.
Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, is investigating what caused its New Glenn rocket to suddenly explode on a launchpad in May ahead of its fourth flight. The rocket, also part of the Space Force's launch program, will be grounded until at least the end of the year.
(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Mark Porter and David Gregorio)
