Space Force Preparing Exercise to Counter ‘Adversary On-Orbit Aggression’

Rocket Lab was awarded $32 million and True Anomaly was awarded $30 million to carry out the mission.

U.S. Space Force General B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, testifies about the fiscal year 2024 budget request during a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 14, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Space Force has selected two private space companies for a mission aimed at demonstrating how the military branch will counter “on-orbit aggression” perpetrated by an adversary such as China.

Rocket Lab, a California-based launch company, was awarded a $32 million contract through the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit, according to a statement issued by the Space Force’s Space Systems Command on April 11.