The contract, awarded under the Hybrid Acquisition for proliferated Low Earth Orbit (HALO) initiative, will see AST SpaceMobile use its BlueBird satellite constellation to provide resilient, low-latency tactical communications directly to government end-user devices.
The award marks the first prime contract secured through AST SpaceMobile’s US defence subsidiary, highlighting the company’s growing role in supporting national security space capabilities.
The contract forms part of Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Europa Track 2 Commercial Solutions program, which is designed to rapidly deliver operational communications capabilities to front-line forces by leveraging existing commercial satellite infrastructure.
AST SpaceMobile will demonstrate how its low-Earth orbit satellite network can connect directly to military devices, enabling secure, real-time communications without relying on traditional military satellite communications systems.
Unlike conventional military satellite networks, the company’s system uses a software-defined “bent-pipe” architecture, allowing satellites to relay high-bandwidth data between users and ground networks with minimal delay.
Chris Ivory, chief executive of AST SpaceMobile USA, said the selection validated the company’s ability to quickly adapt commercial space technology for defence applications.
“By leveraging our existing dual-use low-Earth orbit satellite technology, we can deliver immediate connectivity and rapidly scale to support advanced tactical missions,” he said.
The program will include a series of on-orbit demonstrations to prove the system’s ability to integrate with existing military radios and communications equipment, while delivering tactical data as a service to the SDA.
The contract directly supports the SDA’s broader effort to build the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a distributed satellite network designed to provide resilient communications, missile warning, and data connectivity in contested environments.
Defence planners see commercial satellite constellations as a key component of future hybrid military space architectures, allowing rapid deployment of new capabilities without the long development timelines associated with traditional defence programs.
AST SpaceMobile is developing a global space-based cellular broadband network capable of connecting directly with standard, unmodified mobile phones and government devices, potentially transforming both civilian and military communications by enabling seamless connectivity from space.