Space Force Pays Viasat $450M to Run Its Multi-Vendor Space Data Network

Space Systems Command has handed Viasat a contract worth up to $450 million to build and run the mission operations center for the Space Force's Space Data Network. The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity deal arrives with a $115 million initial tasking order attached, SSC announced.

The mission operations center, or MOC, will serve as the central integration hub for the SDN — a network of government and commercial satellites meant to carry both tactical and enterprise traffic for the entire joint force. At its core sits the "Backbone," which SSC has promised will deliver "robust, resilient, high-capacity, and low-latency data transport … delivering worldwide tactical communications and broadband communication services."

Why does the network need a single operator?

SpaceX won a $2.9 billion deal in May to build the SDN Backbone and must deliver an operational prototype capability by the end of next year. That award briefly raised concerns that one firm would dominate the program. SSC has since spread the work across Rocket Lab, York Space Systems, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Amazon LEO for Government.

More vendors mean more competition and less dependence on any single constellation. They also mean the Space Force needs something — in the command's own words, a "central integration hub" — to hold the whole thing together.

"Establishing this Mission Operations Center is a crucial step in maturing our Space Data Network into a fully operational, multi-vendor capability," said Space Force Lt. Col. Alexa Eggert, materiel leader for the SDN-Backbone program.

What will the MOC actually do?

The goal is orchestration at speed: routing and rerouting critical data across different vendors' satellites and to all domains in real time, picking the most efficient path as conditions change. Think traffic control, minus the radar screens and the weather delays.

"The MOC establishes the mission operations layer needed to integrate the diverse space data transport and space exchange systems being developed across related efforts," Eggert said. "By bringing the systems together in one place, it positions us to deliver a more integrated mission capability across multiple constellations and systems."

The MOC fits SSC's broader open-architecture push for secure, resilient space-to-ground connectivity for joint force users across air, land, sea, and space domains, a command spokesperson wrote by email. Beyond that, the details stay classified-adjacent: "Specific technical standards, system interfaces, performance measures, operational employment concepts, and future task-order details are not available for public release," the spokesperson wrote.

How does Golden Dome fit in?

The SDN ties closely to the planned Golden Dome missile defense shield, and SSC made the Viasat award "in partnership with Golden Dome for America," the spokesperson said on Nov. 9. Golden Dome aims to integrate command-and-control with sensors and data to identify, track, and destroy missile threats. The SDN is, in effect, its nervous system.

Is Viasat the right bet?

The Carlsbad contractor arrives with a busy year behind it. In August, Viasat won a separate SSC contract to develop a dual-band X/Ka-band, mini-geosynchronous maneuverable satellite for the Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global program, and picked Rocket Lab to build the spacecraft. In May, Viasat and Intelsat General Communications took a combined $437 million USSF contract to develop anti-jam communication satellites for tactical SATCOM missions.

PTS-G replaces the Advanced Extremely High Frequency constellation and spans satellites, the PTS-W waveform, ground controls, and an anti-jam modem. The Space Force requested roughly $450 million for it in fiscal 2027 and $2 billion through fiscal 2031.

Viasat also carries a relevant scar. In 2022, hackers attacked its KA-SAT terminals through a management network, cutting communications for thousands of users in Ukraine and across Europe just as Russian forces moved in that February. Engineers estimated weeks for recovery; it took from late February to April to restore service and replace the necessary nodes, with thousands of terminals brought back online each day.

What does this change for the budget?

The money keeps flowing. In the current fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization bill, USSF has requested $1.5 billion for the SDN-Backbone: $685 million to speed up constellation growth and $800 million to add commercial technology now under development. The message to industry is plain — the multi-vendor model is funded, and someone now owns the plumbing.