{"city":"Dulles","name":"Northrop Grumman Space","slug":"northrop-grumman-space","facts":[{"date":"2026-09-19","type":"contract","value":"24-month contract for a reconnaissance satellite prototype awarded by the U.S. Space Force","source":"interestingengineering.com — 2026-09-19"},{"date":"2026-09-16","type":"contract","value":"Space Force contract naming Northrop Grumman as prime contractor for the GMTI program","source":"breakingdefense.com — 2026-09-16"},{"date":"2026-09-14","type":"setback","value":"Departed the SNC-led Navy trainer team for the Undergraduate Jet Amazon System program","source":"breakingdefense.com — 2026-09-14"},{"date":"2026-08-25","type":"deployment","value":"Satellites preparing to launch into the Pentagon's first operational military data network in low Earth orbit","source":"SpaceNews"},{"date":"2026-08-11","type":"partnership","value":"Competing with Apex to develop an orbital interceptor concept for the Golden Dome program","source":"SpaceNews"},{"date":"2026-08-01","type":"partnership","value":"Golden Dome interceptor test collaboration with SpaceX","source":"Bloomberg / Breaking Defense"}],"peers":[{"name":"L3Harris","rank":3,"slug":"l3harris","score":"91"},{"name":"Lockheed Martin Space","rank":5,"slug":"lockheed-martin-space","score":"88"},{"name":"True Anomaly","rank":16,"slug":"true-anomaly","score":"82"},{"name":"Rheinmetall","rank":31,"slug":"rheinmetall","score":"78.5"},{"name":"Slingshot Aerospace","rank":52,"slug":"slingshot-aerospace","score":"73"},{"name":"LeoLabs","rank":59,"slug":"leolabs","score":"71"}],"stage":"Subsidiary","state":"Virginia","aliases":["Cygnus NG-24","DRAKE","Northrop Grumman"],"country":"United States","domains":[{"why":"Northrop Grumman designs, builds and operates spacecraft for reconnaissance, missile tracking, communications and cargo, including SDA satellites and Cygnus.","list":"Space 100","rank":9,"tier":"member","layer":"Applications","total":85,"domain":"Space","scores":{"gate_ne":["firepower"],"leverage":8,"position":8,"progress":9,"firepower":10,"commercial":10,"deployment":8,"production":8,"technology":8},"edition":"November 2026","segment":"Defense & intelligence"}],"founded":null,"signals":[{"date":"2026-10-13","header":"The U.S. Navy is fitting USS Ohio with Northrop Grumman’s DRAKE counter-drone system.","outlet":"Interesting Engineering"},{"date":"2026-10-13","header":"Cygnus NG-24 completed its cargo mission and reentered Earth’s atmosphere.","outlet":"Novosti Kosmonavtiki"},{"date":"2026-10-10","header":"SpaceX launched 21 Northrop Grumman communications satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency.","outlet":"Novosti Kosmonavtiki"},{"date":"2026-10-10","header":"SpaceX launched 21 Northrop Grumman military communications satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency.","outlet":"Novosti Kosmonavtiki"},{"date":"2026-10-06","header":"Northrop Grumman selected ThinKom’s antenna for the U.S. Navy’s E-130J Phoenix II TACAMO aircraft.","outlet":"Via Satellite"},{"date":"2026-10-05","header":"Northrop Grumman’s self-funded YFQ-48A drone wingman completed its first autonomous flight.","outlet":"Breaking Defense"}],"website":"https://northropgrumman.com","category":"Space · Satellites & spacecraft","categories":[{"name":"Platforms","domain":"Space","parent":"Space · Satellites & spacecraft"}],"last_round":null,"updated_at":"2026-10-25T23:20:00.41268+00:00","facts_total":51,"positioning":"Northrop Grumman's space unit spans Cygnus ISS cargo, solid rocket motors (GEM/OmegA heritage), missile-warning primes, and an SDA Tranche 3 win, and it holds the servicing category's only commercial operating record via the flown MEV-1 and MEV-2 GEO life-extension servicers. It is the quiet incumbent while startups (Astroscale, Starfish) hold the servicing contracts pipeline, though a Northrop launch anomaly stranded AST's BB7. Segment financials are group-scoped and not broken out (a filings pass owed).","sub_category":"Platforms","signals_total":112,"url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/northrop-grumman-space","title":"Northrop Grumman Space · space, Dulles, Virginia, United States · scores, facts and signals · Frontier Tech Intelligence","description":"Northrop Grumman designs, builds and operates spacecraft for reconnaissance, missile tracking, communications and cargo, including SDA satellites and Cygnus. Space 100 rank 9 (score 85) 112 signals and 51 facts with sources.","publisher":"Frontier Tech Intelligence (Future Frontiers, a trade name of Essential Cognition Inc.)","note":"Assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence; facts and signals carry their sources."}