THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX Gets $1.6 Billion US Space Force Order for 18 Falcon 9 Launches.
The 18 missions were assigned to SpaceX across two task orders under the U.S. Space Force’s flagship launch procurement program, in which SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and other U.S. launch firms inducted into the program jockey for lucrative mission assignments.
SpaceX has bagged at least $7 billion worth of Pentagon contracts this year as the Trump administration has laid groundwork for its Golden Dome missile defense shield, a roughly $185 billion multi-year endeavor heavily featuring Elon Musk’s launch and satellite company.
SpaceX in May won $6.5 billion worth of satellite contracts from the U.S. Space Force. That included $4.16 billion for a network of airborne moving target indicator satellites and $2.29 billion three days later for communications satellites that can pass data between missile warning and tracking sensors to interceptors in near real time.
The SpaceX award announced on Wednesday was part of an “unprecedented two-month acquisition timeline,” Space Force acquisition official Eric Zarybnisky said in a news release. For years, the service has sought to ramp up the pace with which it buys spacecraft and rocket launches from the private sector.
For perspective, that’s a little under $90 million per launch — which sits at the low end for military launches, and well below typical ULA or Blue Origin prices.
And 18 launches is only six or seven weeks worth of Falcon 9 launches at the current cadence.
Incredible.