Ursa Space Joins $151B Effort to Build AI-Powered Missile Shield

ITHACA, N.Y. – December 19, 2025 – In a significant move to bolster national security, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has selected Ursa Space Systems, a specialist in satellite intelligence, for its ambitious Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) contract. The selection places the Ithaca-based company among a wide pool of firms eligible to compete for task orders under a massive indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling of $151 billion, aimed at forging the next generation of U.S. missile defense.

The SHIELD program is designed to create an advanced, multi-domain defense system capable of neutralizing a complex array of modern aerial threats, including hypersonic missiles, advanced cruise missiles, and ballistic weapons. By awarding a spot on this contract, the Pentagon is underscoring the critical role that artificial intelligence and commercial satellite analytics will play in protecting the homeland.

A New Shield for the Homeland

The SHIELD program represents a paradigm shift in how the Department of Defense acquires and fields critical defense technologies. The staggering $151 billion ceiling is not an exclusive award to any single company but rather a shared pool accessible to over 2,100 awardees, ranging from defense industry titans like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to agile technology innovators such as Ursa Space, Anduril, and Spire Global.

This multiple-award strategy is central to the MDA's goal of fostering competition and accelerating innovation. The contract vehicle is designed to dramatically reduce acquisition timelines for a vast range of capabilities. It covers 19 distinct technical work areas, spanning the entire lifecycle of a defense system: from foundational science and technology, research, and prototyping to systems engineering, production, cybersecurity, and long-term sustainment.

The ultimate objective is to build a continuous, layered defense architecture—dubbed the “Golden Dome”—that protects the United States, its deployed forces, and allies from attacks originating from any domain, whether land, sea, air, space, or cyberspace. By creating a broad and diverse industrial base, the MDA aims to rapidly integrate the most advanced solutions to counter threats that are evolving at an unprecedented pace.

The AI Edge: Satellite Intelligence in Modern Defense

For a company like Ursa Space Systems, inclusion in the SHIELD program is a powerful validation of its highly specialized expertise. The firm has built its reputation on transforming vast quantities of satellite data into actionable intelligence through sophisticated software and artificial intelligence agents. This capability is precisely what the MDA needs to gain an information advantage over potential adversaries.

Ursa Space operates what it calls a "virtual constellation," a powerful platform that ingests and analyzes data from a diverse network of commercial satellite partners. This includes Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which can see through clouds and darkness, as well as optical, infrared, and hyperspectral imagery. By fusing these disparate data sources, the company’s AI and machine learning algorithms can detect subtle changes on the ground, monitor global activity, and provide persistent situational awareness.

In the context of missile defense, this technology offers a decisive edge. It can be used for early-warning indications by monitoring activity at known launch sites, tracking the movement of military assets, and providing rich geospatial context to intelligence analysts. This allows for faster, more informed decision-making, a critical factor when response times are measured in minutes or even seconds. The company has already demonstrated its value in the defense sector through prior work with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and international partners like NATO, where it helped enhance geospatial and open-source intelligence capabilities.

Transforming Defense with Digital Engineering and Open Systems

The SHIELD contract is more than just a procurement vehicle; it is an engine for technological transformation. The program explicitly calls for the use of AI/ML, digital engineering, and a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), signaling a fundamental rewiring of the defense innovation pipeline.

AI and machine learning are crucial for managing the speed and complexity of modern threats. These systems can process immense datasets from sensors and satellites in real-time, helping to detect and track incoming missiles with greater accuracy and speed than human operators alone. They can also discriminate between decoys and real threats, predict trajectories, and recommend optimal engagement strategies, all while reducing the cognitive load on warfighters.

Parallel to this is the push for digital engineering and MOSA. Digital engineering involves creating a comprehensive digital model, or a “single source of truth,” for a weapon system. This allows for rapid virtual prototyping, testing, and modification, drastically cutting down development timelines and costs. MOSA, a strategic imperative for the entire DoD, breaks down monolithic, proprietary systems into modular components with open, standardized interfaces. This approach combats “vendor lock,” allowing the military to easily swap in new technologies from a wide range of suppliers to quickly adapt to emerging threats without needing to redesign an entire system.

Together, these principles are designed to create a defense architecture that is not only powerful but also adaptable, scalable, and resilient against future challenges.

A Shift in the Defense Industrial Base

The structure of the SHIELD contract reflects a deliberate and strategic evolution in the Pentagon's relationship with the industrial base. By opening a $151 billion program to thousands of companies, the MDA is moving away from its historical reliance on a handful of prime contractors and embracing a more dynamic and competitive ecosystem.

This shift creates significant opportunities for specialized technology firms to contribute directly to flagship national security programs. It recognizes that innovation is often born in smaller, more agile organizations that are at the forefront of commercial technologies like AI, cloud computing, and satellite analytics. The global geospatial defense market is projected to grow exponentially, potentially reaching over $160 billion by 2032, driven by the insatiable demand for advanced Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.

For Ursa Space Systems, securing a place on the SHIELD contract positions it as a key player in this evolving landscape. It provides a direct channel to apply its commercial-first technology to some of the nation's most pressing defense challenges. This new procurement model ensures that as threats continue to morph and accelerate, America's defensive shield can be upgraded not at the slow pace of traditional acquisitions, but at the rapid speed of digital innovation.