The U.S. Air Force previously launched a similar transponder, Pathfinder 1, on an SES commercial satellite under a $9,000,000 contract.
The team led by Tim Deaver at SES Government Services won U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center Pathfinder 1 and Pathfinder 3 contracts.
BlackSky Global launched a demonstration mission called Pathfinder-1 in 2016.