Sierra Space, a space technology company based in Colorado, announced a dedicated defense business and plans to expand its manufacturing capacity to support its growing national security portfolio.
“The launch of Sierra Space Defense and related infrastructure expansion plans are driven by a palpable sense of urgency: The United States is facing new threats and near-peer adversaries at unprecedented levels in the space domain,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The announcement comes on the heels of significant growth in the firm’s defense-focused work. Over the last two years, Sierra Space has been awarded $1.5 billion in defense contracts for satellites and components. That includes a $740 million contract from the Space Development Agency to produce 18 spacecraft for its missile-warning and tracking constellation.
The firm also has more than 20 contracts to provide solar arrays and other satellite components.
Erik Daehler, who will lead Sierra Space Defense after previously serving as the company’s vice president for space programs, said the new unit positions the firm to support some of the defense industry’s “hardest mission problems” like Golden Dome — a Pentagon initiative to develop an advanced homeland missile defense shield.
“We are mission-focused and dedicated to supporting our national security customers and the revitalization of the U.S. defense industrial base. Commercial space companies now have a profound responsibility to help lead an entirely new era for national defense,” Daehler said in the statement.
The expanded production capacity, a 60,000 square-foot space, will be located in Centennial, Colorado. That facility will build on existing manufacturing sites located across seven states.
Existing product lines that will shift under the new defense division include: Sierra Space Eclipse, a line of small satellites designed for on-orbit servicing missions; Ghost, a delivery capability aimed at delivering satellites and other objects from space to “precise locations on Earth”; Spectre, a mobility platform; and Sierra Black OS, and AI operating system.
Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.
