HAWTHORNE, Calif. — SpaceX has secured a roughly $1.5 billion block of National Security Space Launch missions from the U.S. Space Force, extending its lead as the Pentagon's most relied-upon ride to orbit and adding a fresh slate of high-value flights to an already crowded 2027 manifest.
The award covers a mix of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy flights carrying military and intelligence payloads to orbits ranging from low Earth to geostationary transfer. Several of the missions are earmarked for the most demanding reference orbits, the category that historically commanded the highest prices and the tightest reliability requirements.
A Deepening Pentagon Partnership
The new order builds on a string of national security wins for SpaceX, which has flown dozens of defense and intelligence missions over the past two years with a cadence no competitor has matched. The company's rapid turnaround leans heavily on reuse: the same booster discipline that let SpaceX fly a single Falcon 9 core for a record 26th time on a recent Starlink run now underpins the pricing that keeps winning government work.
For the Space Force, the appeal is straightforward. SpaceX offers schedule certainty, a deep bench of flight-proven hardware, and launch prices that have reset the market. Officials have repeatedly pointed to assured access to space as the goal, and a provider that can surge launches on short notice is central to that plan.
Falcon Today, Starship Tomorrow
While the current block rides on Falcon vehicles, SpaceX executives have made clear that Starship is the long-term workhorse for the heaviest national security payloads. The fully reusable system, which recently flew its first revenue-generating mission deploying Starlink V3 satellites, is expected to eventually carry outsized defense hardware that no current rocket can lift in a single launch.
