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.
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The Department of Defense plans to buy commercial LEO broadband services from OneWeb, Starlink, and Telesat.
The Space Development Agency is leading a Department of Defense effort to deploy its own low Earth orbit constellation.
Quilty Analytics predicts that the Department of Defense's pivot to LEO will be beneficial for not only the U.S. military but also LEO operators, satellite manufacturers, and terminal makers.
Space Micro has provided technology to the U.S. Department of Defense including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) space payloads, laser secure communications terminals, and digital RF-to-optical and optical-to-RF signal converters.
Commercial LEO broadband systems will complement the SDA Transport Layer to create hybrid networks that combine commercial and Department of Defense space assets.
STPSat-7 is a 150-kilogram smallsat that will host research and technology demonstration payloads for the Department of Defense Space Test Program.
The report argues that the Department of Defense and the U.S. intelligence community should better support the space industry by procuring commercially provided services rather than developing systems in-house.
Planet Federal expanded its contract with the National Reconnaissance Office to provide the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community continued access to Planet’s daily, unclassified satellite data.
The U.S. Space Force is preparing the Defense Department to acquire services from commercial LEO satcom providers and future constellations not yet deployed.
The Department of Defense announced on 2025-11-10 that the award to Space Dynamics Laboratory was a sole-source, non-competed contract.
LEO satellite systems offer reduced latency and increased bandwidth compared with traditional GEO services, which Defense Department users seek.
The collaboration aims to adapt commercial 0.005 kg technology to meet tactical communications needs in terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks operated by the Department of Defense.
Momentus attempted to launch its first Vigoride tugs in January 2021 and June 2021 on SpaceX rideshare missions but the Federal Aviation Administration rejected the payload review for the vehicle due to Defense Department concerns about the company’s Russian co-founders and owners.
Capella Space will begin installing optical communications terminals on its synthetic-aperture radar satellites in 2022 to deliver data to Department of Defense customers via the Space Development Agency’s low Earth orbit constellation.
OneWeb and Leonardo DRS created a partnership to jointly offer a LEO service to the U.S. Department of Defense.
McQ has been supplying the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, Department of Justice, and other U.S. government agencies and commercial customers with security and surveillance systems for over 35 years.
AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. announced that its subsidiary, senseFly, has been named to the Blue sUAS 2.0 list by the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).
Maxar Technologies challenged the Defense Department procurement of 126 satellites for the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer Tranche 1 due to the financial burden on contractors.
Since becoming SDA director two years ago, Derek Tournear has focused the agency on acquiring and deploying systems at a faster pace than is typical in Pentagon programs.
The Defense Department’s Space Development Agency canceled a solicitation issued 2021-08-30 for 126 satellites and reopened a new procurement on 2021-10-28.