SpaceX wins $1.6 billion Space Force order for 18 Falcon 9 launches through 2027

The Space Force awarded SpaceX two task orders worth $1.6 billion on 29 July for 18 Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California through the end of 2027. Space Systems Command said that day it would issue the orders under National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1.

The satellites are part of the Space Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio, which is designed to track airborne threats and relay data to forces in near real time, according to a Space Force release. The portfolio includes the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indication program and the Space Data Network, two high-priority Space Force programs.

What the order covers

Lane 1 is the service's faster procurement track for missions that can accept less stringent mission assurance than its most demanding launches. The $1.6 billion total works out to roughly $89 million a launch. The Space Force requires extra mission assurance, integration and security work on national security payloads.

It is the largest publicly disclosed Lane 1 task order so far, Teslarati reported, and the first since the Space Force raised the contract ceiling from $5.6 billion to $17 billion on 17 July, an increase of $11.4 billion. Eighteen launches by the end of 2027 works out to roughly one Vandenberg flight a month.

Space Systems Command said the requirement went from identification to award in about two months. "We have set an unprecedented two-month acquisition timeline under the Phase 3 Lane 1 contract from requirement identification to award," Col. Eric Zarybnisky, whom Teslarati describes as the acting portfolio acquisition executive for space access, said in a statement. "This includes the one-month period for the launch service providers' proposal preparation."

Falcon 9, not Starship, is the vehicle the Pentagon is buying here. The rocket is human-rated, has flown hundreds of times and has a reuse cadence that keeps per-mission costs down, according to BASENOR. It remains the vehicle the Space Force uses for time-sensitive national security work while Starship moves through testing and certification.

SpaceX is also building the satellites

SpaceX already holds contracts awarded in late May worth more than $6 billion to build satellites for the two programs in the portfolio, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported. Teslarati put the two awards at $4.16 billion for the Space Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator system and $2.29 billion for the Space Data Network Backbone.

Lawmakers have flagged the concentration of national security launches in one company as a risk. Space Force officials say they want more competition in the market, Reuters reported.

Demand is outrunning the vendor pool

An SSC spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine on 22 July that expected Lane 1 demand had risen from 60 missions to about 170 over the five-year ordering period. Seven companies are approved to compete: SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Rocket Lab, Relativity Space and Impulse Space.

Only SpaceX, ULA and Blue Origin have flown at least one mission. Neither ULA nor Blue Origin is flying now: Vulcan is inside a months-long investigation of its booster separation system, and New Glenn exploded on a pad in May and will be grounded until at least the end of the year, Reuters reported.

What happens next

The first flight under the 18-launch order has no announced date. The Space Force has not published a mission-by-mission schedule. The first Vandenberg mission will set the tempo for the remaining 17, and the service expects to issue competitive Lane 1 task orders through at least fiscal 2029.