9 firms win orbital AMTI deals, Space Force says

WASHINGTON — The US Space Force has awarded nine firms nascent deals to build out a satellite constellation that can track aircraft from orbit, a Space Force spokesperson announced today.

The “base contracts” were issued as “competitive Other Transaction Agreements,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Breaking Defense. They did not disclose when the contracts were awarded or their individual dollar values, adding that winning vendors identities’ are being withheld “in the interest of national security to protect sensitive operations capabilities.” (The spokesperson said other transaction awards are not required to be publicly announced, but that Congress was notified.)

The contracts were revealed by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink on Wednesday during a press briefing at the Space Symposium conference, who claimed that satellites capable of what’s known as airborne moving target indication (AMTI) have already been demonstrated and will “far and away” be “the most capable AMTI system” ever fielded. 

The AMTI deals come on the heels of the Space Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request, which seeks a whopping $7 billion to start buying space-based AMTI systems, after requesting no procurement money for those assets in FY26.

The Space Force is developing both AMTI space systems and satellites that can track ground targets (GMTI) with the National Reconnaissance Office, where Meink previously served as principal deputy director. The Pentagon’s bullishness on AMTI satellites in particular has helped fuel resistance within the department to the Air Force’s E-7 Wedgetail AMTI aircraft program, which lawmakers forced the Air Force to continue after the service attempted to cancel the radar plane last year. 

The Space Force spokesperson said the service “is pursuing a ‘system-of-systems’ approach, aiming to build a multi-vendor space segment that will form the industrial base for the [space-based] AMTI program. This request represents the first of numerous Task Orders the Space Forces plans to issue.”

Forthcoming task orders “will focus on expanding capabilities toward Full Operational Capability, and promoting greater interoperability within the industrial base,” they said.