The Department of Defense (DOD) is a U.S. government agency responsible for military and national security space activities. It acts as a major procurer and operator of space systems, including launch vehicles and satellite systems for reconnaissance, missile launch detection, navigation, and communication. The DOD aims to maintain space superiority, integrate military space power, and ensure space stability, working with commercial firms to integrate space solutions into national security architectures.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Space Foundation projects the Pentagon will roughly double its national security space budget to $126 billion in FY27.
The Space Systems Command manages U.S. Department of Defense procurement of space access services.
The U.S. Department of Defense needs more launch capacity to support satellites for communications, navigation, Earth observation, and other strategic functions.
The U.S. Department of Defense has increasingly relied on commercial launch services to provide access to space for national security missions.
A March 2026 Pentagon industrial-base review found that efforts to scale production and bring in nontraditional vendors had not yet moved the needle.
The Office of Space Commerce is working to create a one-stop licensing process for novel space missions using a single application while the office handles inter-agency coordination with other agencies including the Department of Defense.
Sierra Space’s Space Systems division traces its manufacturing heritage to Sierra Nevada Corporation’s work on NASA and U.S. Department of Defense missions including GPS III, Mars 2020, MAVEN, and Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) spacecraft.
Erich Hernandez-Baquero was considered for the role of Air Force assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration after Frank Calvelli left the Defense Department at the end of January 2025.
Kongsberg Defence Australia and the Department of Defence established Kongsberg Defence Australia’s first missile factory outside Norway in Newcastle.
The Department of Defence commenced operations with Lockheed Martin Australia in a new Missile Assembly Facility in Port Wakefield, South Australia, in December.
Venus Aerospace raised a $91 million Series B to fund development and production of its rotating detonation rocket engine for Department of Defense and commercial space missions.
The VICTUS HAZE mission provided the first real-world validation of the Pentagon’s Tactically Responsive Space framework.
OTA allows the Department of Defense to enter prototype agreements with entities that are not traditional defense contractors without using the Federal Acquisition Regulation framework.
The Department of Defense routed a separate $4.16 billion Other Transaction Authority award for space-based sensing and targeting outside the Federal Acquisition Regulation framework.
The Department of Defense routed $3.2 billion in Other Transaction Authority awards for space-based interceptor prototypes outside the Federal Acquisition Regulation framework.
Quantum Space won a Pentagon contract to develop a next-generation fuel-transfer vehicle for the U.S. military.
The Pentagon requested $3.9 billion in mandatory reconciliation funding for the Space Data Network.
The Pentagon requested $17.5 billion in mandatory reconciliation funding for the Golden Dome project.
The Government Accountability Office has corroborated concentration risks in Department of Defense acquisition program supply chains.
The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital secured conditional loans totaling $1.2 billion with Energy Fuels and Phoenix Tailings.