Viasat wins a $4B Space Force prime contract for Swarm 1 anti-jam satellites, shifting from component supplier to systems integrator for military SATCOM.
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Viasat landed a prime contract with the U.S. Space Force to build and launch a new fleet of secure communications satellites. The award, part of the Protected Tactical Satellite-Ground (PTS-G) program, is worth up to $4 billion over the life of the program.
The first phase covers the design and development of what the Space Force calls Swarm 1 – a constellation of agile geostationary satellites designed to resist jamming and maintain connectivity in contested environments. Viasat will serve as the prime contractor, a role that puts the company in charge of satellite manufacturing, integration, and launch services.
The PTS-G program replaces the older Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system. Unlike AEHF, which relies on a small number of large, expensive satellites, PTS-G aims for a more distributed architecture. The Swarm 1 satellites are smaller and designed to be repositioned quickly in orbit, making them harder to target or disrupt.
Viasat's win follows years of investment in its government systems division. The company already supplies satellite communications terminals to the Pentagon and allied militaries. This contract moves Viasat from a component supplier to a prime systems integrator for space-based communications, a shift that could reshape its revenue mix over the next decade.
The Space Force has not disclosed the exact number of satellites in Swarm 1 or the launch timeline. The program is structured in phases, with initial development work expected to take several years before production and launch contracts are awarded.
Viasat shares rose on the news. The contract provides a multi-year revenue stream that reduces the company's reliance on its commercial satellite broadband business, which has faced competition from SpaceX's Starlink and other low-Earth-orbit networks.
The PTS-G award is one of the largest single contracts in Viasat's history. It positions the company to compete for follow-on work as the Space Force expands its protected satellite communications architecture beyond the current AEHF fleet.
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