Rocket Lab has been selected by Viasat to manufacture a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite for the US Space Force’s (USSF) Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global (PTS-G) program, strengthening its expanding role as a supplier of national security space systems.
The selection follows Viasat receiving a prime contract from the US Space Force’s Space Systems Command in May 2026 to deliver one of the first small, manoeuvrable GEO satellites for the PTS-G constellation.
The initial production award, known as Swarm 1, encompasses satellite manufacturing, integration and testing, launch, and on-orbit checkout of the mini-GEO satellite system.
Rocket Lab will provide a GEO configuration of its Lightning spacecraft platform, which will host Viasat’s dual-band X/Ka-band communications payload.
The Lightning-GEO configuration incorporates a range of Rocket Lab-developed and vertically integrated subsystems, including tracking, telemetry and command radios, solar power systems, star trackers, reaction wheels and flight and ground software.
The combination is intended to provide secure and resilient communications for military users operating in contested environments, where satellite communications could face deliberate jamming, interference or other forms of disruption.
Viasat said the PTS-G architecture is designed to provide global, resilient and scalable communications by using commercially derived technology to produce smaller satellites more rapidly, while incorporating enhanced anti-jam capabilities.
Craig Miller, president of Viasat Government, said the production award marked an important step towards the next generation of protected satellite communications.
“This production award represents an important step forward in delivering the next generation of protected satellite communications capabilities for the US Space Force,” Miller said.
“By combining Viasat’s cutting-edge communications payload technology with Rocket Lab’s proven spacecraft platform, we are advancing a more agile and resilient GEO architecture designed to support mission-critical communications hotspots in contested environments.”
Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck said moving into production represented an important milestone for the company’s national security space business.
“Moving from design into production marks an important milestone for this program and for Rocket Lab’s growing role in national security space,” Beck said.
“By pairing our vertically integrated spacecraft with Viasat’s protected communications payload, we’re delivering resilient, space-based communications infrastructure that keeps our forces connected and secure in contested environments.”
The PTS-G program reflects the US Space Force’s broader shift towards more distributed, resilient and commercially enabled space architectures.
Rather than relying exclusively on a small number of extremely expensive and highly specialised satellites, the program is designed around smaller and more manoeuvrable spacecraft that can be produced and deployed at greater scale.
The approach also introduces greater architectural diversity. Viasat’s award is one of two delivery orders issued under a competitive fair opportunity acquisition, supporting the Space Force’s objective of developing a diversified PTS-G constellation rather than relying on a single industrial supplier.
The Viasat award also includes five years of operations and sustainment for the satellite, covering telemetry, tracking and command, satellite and network operations and cyber security requirements.
For Rocket Lab, the contract represents another expansion of its rapidly growing national security space portfolio.
The company has already secured major US Space Force and Space Development Agency programs, including contracts to develop GEO satellites for space domain awareness and proliferated low-Earth orbit satellites for missile warning and tracking. Its vertically integrated Lightning platform is consequently becoming an increasingly important element of its strategy to compete with established aerospace primes.
The PTS-G program also demonstrates the growing convergence between commercial space technology and military capability.
By combining commercially derived spacecraft architecture with specialised military communications payloads, the US Space Force is seeking to increase the pace at which protected communications capabilities can be developed, manufactured and deployed.
For US and allied forces, the objective is ultimately straightforward: maintain secure communications even when operating in an increasingly contested electromagnetic and space environment.
For Rocket Lab, the program provides another opportunity to demonstrate that commercially derived, vertically integrated spacecraft can deliver the resilience, performance and production speed increasingly demanded by modern national security space missions.
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