AST SpaceMobile has entered into an agreement with the United States Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Europa Track 2 Commercial Solutions programme. The agreement, executed under the Hybrid Acquisition for proliferated Low-earth Orbit (HALO) programme, has a total contract value of approximately $30m.
This Other Transaction (OT) agreement focuses on the rapid demonstration and delivery of innovative capabilities to the United States warfighter. Under the contract, AST will utilise its BlueBird satellite constellation to demonstrate resilient, low-latency tactical satellite communications directly between government end devices.
Chris Ivory, CEO of AST SpaceMobile USA, said: “Selection for SDA’s Europa Track 2 programme validates AST SpaceMobile’s ability to rapidly operationalise commercial space capabilities for national security. By leveraging our existing low Earth orbit (LEO) dual-use satellite technology, we support the Government’s defence efforts, delivering immediate connectivity with our BlueBird satellites and scaling quickly to advanced tactical use cases.”
The Europa Track 2 effort is focused on delivering immediate, operationally relevant tactical communications capabilities. Unlike traditional proprietary military satellite communications, AST SpaceMobile’s space-based architecture utilises a software-defined “bent-pipe” structure to enable high-bandwidth data transport directly from low Earth orbit.
Through a series of on-orbit demonstrations, the programme will validate seamless integration with existing tactical military radios and demonstrate how commercial satellite infrastructure can be rapidly applied for defense applications and deliver data products as-a-service to the Space Development Agency.
This award further solidifies AST SpaceMobile’s position as a trusted partner to the Department of War, demonstrating how commercial space innovation can be rapidly integrated into national security missions. It directly supports the DoD’s vision for resilient, hybrid architectures, including the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), by enabling scalable, interoperable capabilities through existing commercial infrastructure.
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