SpaceX has been awarded a contract to build four missile-tracking satellites for the Pentagon.
As Reuters reports, SpaceX got a $149 million contract for four satellites from the US Space Development Agency; L3 Harris Technologies Inc. got another $193 million, also for four satellites.
SpaceX, which is currently launching satellites for its upcoming Starlink internet service, will assemble the Pentagon satellites at its Starlink factory in Redmond, Washington, Reuters says. To detect missiles, the satellites will have a special wide-angle infrared sensor, which a subcontractor will provide to SpaceX and L3 Harris Technologies.
SpaceX has until 2022 to deliver the satellites, according to the , which notes that the missile-tracking effort “is among the Pentagon’s most important programs, [and] responds to Russian and Chinese development of the more-nimble weapons.”
