Iridium Ground Station. Credit: Ivar Stakvik/Iridium Communications Inc/PRNewswire.

General Dynamics Mission Systems and Iridium Communications have secured a contract from the Space Development Agency (SDA) in the US.

The contract has an estimated value of $324.5m, which includes a $162.95m base amount and $161.56m in options.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Go deeper with GlobalData

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Discover B2B Marketing That Performs

Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.

Find out more

The contract involves establishing a ground operations and integration (O&I) segment for Tranche 1 of the US National Defence Space Architecture (NDSA).

The two companies will work together to build ground entry points and operations centres for NDSA.

Additionally, General Dynamics Mission Systems and Iridium will provide systems integration and network operations services for the SDA’s next tranche of proliferated low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

The core operations and integration functions encompass network, enterprise, mission and payload data management, along with constellation monitoring spanning the ground, link, space and user segments of the architecture.

GlobalData Strategic Intelligence

US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?

Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.

By GlobalData

General Dynamics Mission Systems president Chris Brady said: “We are incredibly proud to bring our long heritage of mission-critical space and ground communications and networking expertise to the SDA.

“Together with our partners, we’re excited to build the foundation for the SDA’s initial warfighting capability and backbone of Joint All-Domain Command and Control.”

General Dynamics Mission Systems and Iridium Communications team will work with partners at KSAT USA, Raytheon and EMERGENT to develop, equip, staff, operate and maintain commercial-like operations centres.  

The companies will also acquire and operate ground entry points and support ground-to-space integration efforts.

Iridium CEO Matt Desch said: “Iridium, General Dynamics Mission Systems and the US Government have a long and successful history of working together and partnering on this project is a natural evolution of our relationship.

Airforce Technology Excellence Awards - Nominations Closed

Nominations are now closed for the Airforce Technology Excellence Awards. A big thanks to all the organisations that entered – your response has been outstanding, showcasing exceptional innovation, leadership, and impact.


Excellence in Action
Discover how Virtualitics is transforming mission readiness with explainable AI, predictive maintenance, and data-driven decision intelligence across the U.S. Department of Defense through its AI-powered Integrated Readiness Optimization suite, for which it has won the Innovation and Business Expansion awards.

Discover the Impact