LeoLabs vs Northrop Grumman Space: Defense & intelligence compared

November 2026 edition · assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence

Northrop Grumman Space ranks 9 on the Space 100 with a score of 85; LeoLabs ranks 59 with 71. Northrop Grumman Space is ahead on production, commercials, technology and firepower. Level on deployment, progress, positioning and leverage. LeoLabs is based in Menlo Park, United States, Northrop Grumman Space in Dulles, United States. Northrop Grumman Space: Subsidiary. LeoLabs is named in 29 signals and Northrop Grumman Space in 112.

LeoLabs →

Menlo Park, California, United States · Space · Applications / Defense & intelligence · leolabs.space

LeoLabs sells orbital-object tracking and space-domain-awareness data services to government agencies, satellite operators, and other space customers.

Space 100 · rank 59 · score 71

Scores, Space (of 10)

Deployment8
Production6
Commercials6
Progress9
Technology6
Positioning8
Firepower6
Leverage8

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

LeoLabs is a US operator of a global phased-array radar network for LEO and VLEO tracking, the commercial gap-filler for the aging, northern-skewed Space Surveillance Network (with equatorial and Southern Hemisphere sites), plus a Delta product giving operators alerts on close approaches and obscured deployments. It was named to the competitive range of MDA's SHIELD homeland-defense program in January 2026 (a $151B ceiling, not an award), and its radar-versus-optical complementarity with Slingshot defines the space-sensing duopoly. Revenue is estimated at 10-100m from repeated annual government contracting.

Latest signals

  • Russian satellite Cosmos 2612 approached ICEYE-X36 to within 500 meters.Breaking Defense
  • Russia’s COSMOS 2612 maneuvered within extreme proximity of an ICEYE satellite.Via Satellite
  • LeoLabs detected dozens of debris fragments around the Soviet-era Meteor 2-7 weather satellite in low Earth orbit.ZDNet Korea

29 signals name LeoLabs.

Facts, with sources

  • Signed an MoU with ClearSpace to advance space debris monitoring and sustainabilityClearSpace
  • Space Force prototype contract supporting a space-domain-awareness demonstrationPayload
  • Preparing a space-domain-awareness demonstration for U.S. national-security missions under a Space Force prototype contractPayload

37 facts on file.

Northrop Grumman Space →

Dulles, Virginia, United States · Space · Applications / Defense & intelligence · Subsidiary · northropgrumman.com

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

Scores, Space (of 10)

Deployment8
Production8
Commercials10
Progress9
Technology8
Positioning8
Firepower10
Leverage8

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

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).

Latest signals

  • The U.S. Navy is fitting USS Ohio with Northrop Grumman’s DRAKE counter-drone system.Interesting Engineering
  • Cygnus NG-24 completed its cargo mission and reentered Earth’s atmosphere.Novosti Kosmonavtiki
  • SpaceX launched 21 Northrop Grumman communications satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency.Novosti Kosmonavtiki

112 signals name Northrop Grumman Space.

Facts, with sources

  • 24-month contract for a reconnaissance satellite prototype awarded by the U.S. Space Forceinterestingengineering.com — 2026-09-19
  • Space Force contract naming Northrop Grumman as prime contractor for the GMTI programbreakingdefense.com — 2026-09-16
  • Departed the SNC-led Navy trainer team for the Undergraduate Jet Amazon System programbreakingdefense.com — 2026-09-14

51 facts on file.

More comparisons

Questions this page answers

LeoLabs or Northrop Grumman Space: which is ahead in space?

Northrop Grumman Space ranks 9 on the Space 100 with a score of 85; LeoLabs ranks 59 with 71. Northrop Grumman Space is ahead on production, commercials, technology and firepower. Level on deployment, progress, positioning and leverage. LeoLabs is based in Menlo Park, United States, Northrop Grumman Space in Dulles, United States. Northrop Grumman Space: Subsidiary. LeoLabs is named in 29 signals and Northrop Grumman Space in 112.

How do LeoLabs and Northrop Grumman Space compare?

Northrop Grumman Space ranks 9 on the Space 100 with a score of 85; LeoLabs ranks 59 with 71. Northrop Grumman Space is ahead on production, commercials, technology and firepower. Level on deployment, progress, positioning and leverage. LeoLabs is based in Menlo Park, United States, Northrop Grumman Space in Dulles, United States. Northrop Grumman Space: Subsidiary. LeoLabs is named in 29 signals and Northrop Grumman Space in 112. Both company files carry the scores on eight measures, the facts with sources and the latest signals.

Every comparison here comes from the same files members use every day.

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