The U.S. Space Force, working with the Pentagon office that coordinates the Golden Dome initiative, selected Viasat to create the Mission Operations Center for the Space Data Network Backbone under an IDIQ contract worth up to $450 million on Nov. 6, 2026. SSC said on Thursday it awarded Viasat [VSAT] a contract for the Mission Operations Center for the Space Data Network Backbone to support future military operations, including missile defense under a contemplated Golden Dome system.
An initial $115 million task order under the award will pay for designing, fielding and scaling the Mission Operations Center and its associated network operations capability. SSC described the task order as covering the design, fielding and scaling of the MOC.
Under government direction, Viasat will manage the center’s design, fielding, sustainment and operations while serving as the network and mission system integration partner. The company points to its background in secure, global satellite networks as the basis for this work. The award leverages Viasat’s experience with complex, mission-critical networks.
The backbone operates as a multi-vendor data transport architecture intended to provide resilient connectivity with high capacity and low latency for the Space Force, Golden Dome for America and Joint Force worldwide. The Mission Operations Center for the backbone helps deliver that connectivity.
The center will give the government a shared view of network health, status and performance. It will integrate participating connectivity services and manage data transport under Government-directed mission priorities.
Work areas include systems engineering tied to the space-to-ground interface for multi-orbit connectivity services, plus enterprise network operations infrastructure and life-cycle sustainment for availability, resilience and cybersecurity. The effort also supports Space Systems Command’s push to bring commercial technologies into an open architecture. Space Systems Command is expanding an open-architecture ecosystem involving multiple space-segment suppliers. Viasat will develop mission and network integration tools plus a network management framework for that approach.
Supporting the U.S. Golden Dome missile defense initiative counts among the network’s immediate tasks. The center will manage data flow between satellite constellations in different orbits and ground stations, allowing automatic rerouting when an enemy overloads or jams links.
The Mission Operations Center is intended to become the main coordination hub for the Space Data Network Backbone. Space Systems Command said the center will coordinate mission integration, run network operations and supervise data-transfer management within a multi-vendor architecture. The center will provide high-speed cyber-protected channels for users in the air, on the ground, at sea and in space and route data in real time based on mission priorities.
UA.NEWS states the Space Data Network Backbone is a satellite constellation in low Earth orbit that SpaceX is building to provide high-speed, low-latency communications. Low Earth orbit is the region close to Earth. UA.NEWS reported that the network will connect military and commercial satellites and sensors with decision-makers and weapons systems.
Space Systems Command said on Nov. 10, 2026, that it is speeding up delivery of the backbone by standing up the SDN Mission Operations Center to support integrated, resilient, multi-vendor Joint Force connectivity across domains. SSC said the MOC will merge mission integration with network operations and data transport management, using a multi-vendor architecture to help the Space-Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio field an operationally integrated capability.
Golden Dome for America is a homeland defense initiative run by the U.S. Department of War that brings together sensors, data, command-and-control and defensive systems across domains to find, follow and defeat advanced missile and aerial threats. Officials said the MOC strengthens the foundation for secure, high-capacity connectivity support for warfighters across air, land, sea and space domains.
Space Force Lt. Col. Alexa Eggert, materiel leader for the SBST SDN Backbone program, said creating the Mission Operations Center is a crucial step in maturing the Space Data Network into a fully operational, multi-vendor capability. Eggert said the center establishes the mission operations layer needed to integrate diverse space data transport and space exchange systems under development across related efforts. The approach builds on a multi-vendor acquisition strategy the SBST portfolio used before with Amazon LEO for Government, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rocket Lab and York Space Systems.
Craig Miller, President of Viasat Government, called the backbone a critical step toward a unified and interconnected military space architecture. “The Space Data Network Backbone represents a critical leap forward toward a unified, highly resilient and interconnected military space architecture.” Miller, speaking in a statement released with the Nov. 10 announcement, said Viasat is proud to support SSC as the network and mission system integration partner for the MOC effort. “We are proud to support SSC as the network and mission system integration partner for the MOC effort.”
The deal fits wider Department of War efforts to improve warfighting and homeland defense using resilient space-based communication architectures. Resilient space-tier networks act as the core command-and-control backbone for national security when they protect data transport and link capabilities across domains. Linking data from orbit to the tactical edge lets national defense systems quickly spot, follow and stop modern aerial and missile threats.
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