The Space Force today awarded SpaceX $4.16 billion to build a constellation of satellites able to track and sense airborne moving targets, according to a service announcement.

The award, part of the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator (SB-AMTI) program, follows the service’s April announcement of the existence of a vendor pool to compete for various task orders within the program. Until now, the Space Force has declined to name which firms are involved in the competition.

“While this [Other Transaction Authority] agreement establishes initial SB-AMTI capability, the Space Force anticipates issuing multiple awards in the coming year to drive a vendor-diverse expansion, enhancing capacity and capability for combatant commanders,” the service wrote in its news release.

The Space Force wants to field SpaceX’s SB-AMTI satellites by 2028, according to the announcement, to provide the military “with an early capability to eliminate operational blind spots.”

The service did not disclose how many satellites SpaceX is on contract to deliver. The Space Force in fiscal year 2027 is requesting $7 billion in reconciliation funds for the SB-AMTI program.

SB-AMTI is intended to work in tandem with traditional airborne sensing systems -- like the Air Force’s still-in-development E-7 Wedgetail -- to help provide a multilayered and more resilient global tracking architecture from orbit.

The program includes advanced space-based sensors, secure communication links and ground processors. The idea is to take on a system-of-systems approach, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink has said, to deter rapidly evolving adversary anti-access/anti-denial systems.

“By focusing these capabilities to the space domain, we are providing the Joint Force with sustained battlespace awareness of contested airspace,” Col. Ryan Frazier, acting Space Force portfolio acquisition executive for space-based sensing and targeting, said in a statement. “We are beginning development and integration efforts immediately to meet the program's rapid deployment milestones and address emerging national security requirements.”

The SB-AMTI contract is SpaceX’s second major award in four days. The firm on Tuesday was awarded $2.29 billion by the Space Force to deliver a proliferated low-Earth orbit constellation of satellites to create the Space Data Network Backbone.