Satellites, radar and secure communications: the SB-AMTI program aims to eliminate American defense blind spots by 2028
The United States Space Force (USSF) announced that it had awarded the company SpaceX founded by Elon Musk a maxi contract worth 4.16 billion dollars to accelerate the Sb-Amti program, an acronym which means «Space system for the identification of flying targets».
In an official statement, the Colonel Ryan Frazierinterim responsible for the acquisition of space detection and targeting systems of the youngest of the US military forces, said: “We will immediately start development and integration activities to quickly achieve the objectives of the program and respond to new national security needs.”
It confidently refers to the network of sensors designed to communicate with the Air Force E-7 Wedgetail aircraft (USAF), in turn developed to replace the old E-3 Sentry aircraft, which carried an airborne warning and control system. The transition to a space system is considered necessary by Washington Defense, due to the construction of increasingly sophisticated anti-access and so-called “area denial” systems, which are now available to potential adversaries. The Space Forces press release states: «To complement traditional aerial sensing, the need for a layered and highly resilient tracking architecture becomes clear».
The American space shield project
The SB-AMTI program enhances space defense capabilities in support of joint forces, through the ability to detect and track air targets from space. Elon Musk’s SpaceX company was chosen from among nine candidate companies for this project last April, as part of a public-private agreement. While this initiative establishes initial performance for the program, the Space Force expects to award several contracts over the next year to drive an expansion of supplier diversification, improving the operational capability available to Armed Forces commanders. In fact, it is expected that this first contract will allow the creation of a constellation of satellites by 2028providing joint forces with a timely capability to eliminate what are called operational blind spots.
The numbers and functions of the space shield
The Space Force’s base budget for fiscal year 2026 does not provide funding for moving air target tracking systems; However, according to an analysis conducted by The Aerospace Corporation, the reconciliation fund intended for programs related to the Trump administration’s Golden Dome initiative includes $9.2 billion for target tracking equipment, while that of the Space Force for fiscal year 2027 includes the considerable sum of $7 billion, to be used in reconciliation funds for SB-AMTI projects. Designed as a complex system of systems, the Sb-Amti architecture therefore provides advanced space sensors, secure and fast communications links, and robust and secure ground processing. It will therefore be necessary to design and build both satellites equipped with radar but also capable of hitting threats, and terrestrial command and control centers that govern them.
Italian and European defense projects
At the moment there is nothing similar in Europe yet. A few months ago, Italy announced “Michelangelo Dome”, a space shield more similar to the Israeli Iron Dome, or a new integrated air defense system whose design is created by Leonardo, and which will use artificial intelligence to combine radar, space sensors and cyber-defense. But, despite having a space segment, it is designed to hunt down threats flying in the atmosphere. The architecture, in fact, aims to protect European skies and critical infrastructures from missile attacks, drones and swarms of aircraft. Currently, “European space shield” means the set of two distinct projects: Iris² for secure connectivity and space, and Michelangelo Dome/Essi for integrated missile and air defense. Iris² is a network of satellite constellations that provide encrypted communications, remote Internet connectivity and secure government services.
They (European Air Shield Initiative), is the project launched by Germany, and to which numerous nations have joined to make land-based air defense uniform, integrating systems such as Patriot, Iris-T and Arrow 3, with the aim of creating a protective umbrella over European skies. In addition to Germany, it includes Italy, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Hungary. To which were added NATO nations such as the United Kingdom, Iceland, Switzerland and Austria.
