The Pentagon has awarded SpaceX a $57 million contract to develop and demonstrate a space-to-space communications system in Hawthorne, California (USA).
According to Defence Blog, the system will be built around the Link-182 waveform, a specialized communications protocol linked to the military’s classified low Earth orbit satellite network MILNET.
The work will be carried out at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2027. The contracting activity is managed by Space Systems Command at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.
The contract is specifically aimed at enhancing U.S. warfighting capabilities through the acquisition, development, and demonstration of resilient low Earth orbit space capabilities.
Link-182 is central to this initiative. It enables direct connections between satellites themselves, rather than relying solely on ground-based relay infrastructure. This capability is considered critical in modern military space architecture, where latency and dependence on ground stations can create vulnerabilities under combat conditions.
Link-182 is expected to be integrated into the Golden Dome, proposed by Donald Trump as a space-based shield for the United States, operating in a similar way to Israel’s Iron Dome.
With the new contract, the United States has taken a step forward in this initiative. Additionally, with a proposed deadline of 2027, it is understood that pressure to build the system is accelerating efforts to bring the project to reality.
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