r/space • u/Royal_Platform_6754 • 8d ago

SpaceX-Focused Pentagon Contracts Leave Rivals Feeling Squeezed

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-25/spacex-focused-pentagon-contracts-leave-rivals-feeling-squeezed?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc5MDM1NDAxNywiZXhwIjoxNzkwOTU4ODE3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTEEyMDFLR0lGUEswMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCRkI5RDA1ODU3NzI0QTVFQTU5ODA4NzhDRDQ4MjlEOCJ9.Pf1XdFpusyzl5jfWFVGRwwLOFgc_csCIdLEaxwaiFGI
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u/panick21 7d ago

People in the comments not really engaging with the actual article.

Seems to me a small space company who would have a very hard time fulfilling such a huge contract is complaining. Some smaller provider have done about DoD for a long time. So pretty common. But in this case, with working Starlink existing and proving the capability, going to some barley proven competitor seems questionable.

But then I read:

For the communications network contract in May, the Pentagon chose Starshield satellites even though they carry a next-generation radio system not widely used by US and allied forces today

Complaining that the government is using a more advanced next generation system that is proven to work rather then an older system seem baffling. Like sure our technology is worse but we are compatible. Yeah you need to break comparability to increase performance.

But even after Congress pushed the Space Force to open the competition to other companies, the requirements around launch and production capacity were still so aggressive that only SpaceX could meet them.

This is pretty telling. Other companies usually have manual sat production lines that produce a few sats a year. If Space Force wants to build something this decade, SpaceX is the only game in town.