Northrop Grumman partners with Apex for 2027 SBI demo

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman today announced a partnership with commercial firm Apex Space to demonstrate space-based interceptors (SBIs) for the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative in 2027.

“We have already completed key ground tests this year and are uniquely positioned with Apex to rapidly accelerate and scale affordable production to defend the homeland,” Ryan Tintner, vice president and general manager for Northrop’s space superiority systems division, said in news release.

The company is self-funding the planned demonstration under the Space Force’s novel prize competition first reported by Breaking Defense last September. The service in April announced that it had granted 20 contracts — collectively totaling a potential $3.2 billion — to 12 firms for the SBI program.

According to Northrop, its demonstration is “building on the $1 billion company-led investment in missile-defense technology,” and “[w]ith successful ground-test demonstrations completed this year, the company is on track to deliver on-orbit capability in 2027.”

Startup Apex Space, headquartered in Los Angeles, was founded in 2022 to build commoditized satellite busses primarily designed for providers of large constellations of low Earth orbit satellites.

“Apex was founded specifically to support proliferated constellations like Golden Dome,” Ian Cinnamon, CEO and co-founder, said in the Northrop release. “This partnership will enable operational, constellation-scale space-based missile defense and allow us to rapidly support an urgent need.”

Apex previously announced its own demonstration of a self-funded SBI called Project Shadow, using one of its busses as the mothership and an interceptor vehicle, by the end of 2026.

The company could not be reached by press time for comment as to whether that demonstration will still take place in the wake of the new partnership with Northrop.