Space Defense & Missile Warning

Viasat Inc., through its subsidiary Inmarsat Government, Inc., was awarded the U.S. Space Force's MECS2 contract in September 2026, securing an initial US$42 million task order under a seven-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity agreement with a ceiling of up to US$307 million to provide fully managed global SATCOM services for the U.S. Marine Corps. The award deepens Viasat's role in secure, multi-orbit government communications and highlights the importance of its ViaSat-3-enabled Ka-band network and 24x7 managed services capabilities. The company's narrative projects $5.5 billion revenue and $626.3 million earnings by 2029, with forecasts yielding a $103.94 fair value, a 44% upside to its current price. Some of the lowest ranked analysts were far more cautious, assuming only about 3.9 percent annual revenue growth and continued losses. The MECS2 award looks incrementally positive for the investment thesis, reinforcing defense demand and multi-orbit capabilities, but it does not by itself resolve near term pressure from high ViaSat-3 and Inmarsat capex or the risk that broadband subscriber declines keep weighing on revenue quality.

L3Harris Technologies has secured an undefinitized contract from Lockheed Martin worth more than US$6b over seven years to expand propulsion output for the THAAD missile defense system. The arrangement follows a prior framework with the Department of War to quadruple THAAD propulsion production and includes both a new Solid Rocket Boost Motor facility and added Liquid Divert and Attitude Control capacity. The contract lands as L3Harris shares have fallen about 9% over the past month and 22% year to date on a share price basis, though the 3 year total shareholder return is up roughly 53%. The company closed at $236.60, while the most followed narrative estimates fair value at about $342 per share using an 8.4% discount rate, framing the win as one more contract feeding into a broader backlog and earnings story. The story could break if U.S. budget pressure trims space spending or if prime contractor delays slow conversion of the reported US$42b backlog.

ICEYE and Nokia announced a partnership to develop secure, sovereign and high-performance broadband low Earth orbit satellite communications systems for governments, supporting missions from defense and border security to emergency services and disaster response. Built on trusted European technology, the jointly developed systems will give nations ownership and control of the satellites, ground segment and terminals, with the first communications satellites expected to be launched in 2028. The systems will deliver targeted, high-throughput, low-latency connectivity over priority mission areas, designed to complement military and commercial networks rather than replace them. The partnership combines ICEYE's track record delivering sovereign satellite missions with Nokia's experience in secure networking technologies and growing defense portfolio, integrating satellites, ground infrastructure and ruggedized end-user terminals. ICEYE CEO and Co-founder Rafal Modrzewski said nations must be able to fully own and control their communications without dependency on a foreign commercial operator's terms of service, while Nokia President and CEO Justin Hotard said sovereign operations depend on secure, resilient connectivity across land, sea, air and space. Modrzewski and Hotard will take the stage at the Helsinki Security Forum on October 2 for a session titled "How to Salvage Europe's Technological Sovereignty."

L3Harris Technologies has won a $461.9M firm-fixed-price contract to provide commercial satellite communications connectivity for designated executive airlift aircraft. The contract supports authorized government personnel, with work expected to continue through October 2028. A total of $62.3M in FY2026 operations and maintenance funds is being obligated at award. The U.S. Space Force at Los Angeles Air Force Base is the contracting activity.

Astroscale Holdings announced that it has secured a new defence contract from the UK Ministry of Defence through its UK consolidated subsidiary, Astroscale. The details of the services are undisclosed, the contract term spans multiple years, and the contract value is £15 million, or 3.12 billion yen excluding tax. The deal is not included in the assumptions for the company's full-year consolidated earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending April 2027, but revenue from it is expected to be recognised over multiple fiscal years, and the impact on the earnings forecast is currently under review.

The dollar index held steady near a two-month high, supported by a stalemate in peace talks between the United States and Iran, which pushed oil prices sharply higher and increased the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. As of 11:05 p.m. Thailand time, the dollar index was up 0.24% at 101.210 and was on track for a 1.7% gain this month, which would be its largest monthly increase since June. Meanwhile, investors increased their bets that the Fed will raise rates twice more this year, with the CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicating that investors now assign a 68.1% probability to a 0.25% Fed rate hike to a range of 4.00-4.25% at the October meeting, up from 57.6% a week earlier, and a 55.1% probability of another 0.25% increase to 4.25-4.50% in December, up from 44.1%. In global oil markets, crude prices surged more than 3%, with West Texas Intermediate crude breaking above 95 dollars per barrel and Brent crude topping 108 dollars per barrel, after President Donald Trump rejected Iran's conditional peace proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz and told aides he expected the United States to strike Iran again after the November midterm elections. Investors are also watching several economic data releases this week, including the August personal consumption expenditures price index due on Wednesday, manufacturing figures on Thursday, and the September nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Iran is ready for a doomsday war with the United States but is still keeping diplomatic channels open so as not to miss a chance to build peace. Speaking in an interview on NBC News' Meet the Press after last week's United Nations General Assembly, Araghchi said there is no reason for Iran to return to diplomacy, but he is still trying to negotiate because the opportunity to build peace should not be missed, and he affirmed that Iran is as ready to negotiate as it is to face any challenge, even one leading to a doomsday war. On Friday, Araghchi proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming nuclear talks with the United States within seven days if the government of President Donald Trump accepts Iran's conditions, but Trump rejected the proposal, and according to The Wall Street Journal, Trump also said he expects to go back to bombing Tehran again after the US midterm elections in November. Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz said in another NBC News interview that Iran's proposal was a self-serving attempt to put something on the table that it knows is unacceptable. On Sunday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it had seized a US Remus 600 unmanned underwater vehicle in the Strait of Hormuz and declared the strait closed to unauthorized traffic, while Major General Amir Hatami, Iran's top military commander, stressed that the war is not over. The war, which began on February 28, has severely restricted energy shipments from the Middle East, sending oil prices sharply higher and adding to global inflation concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.3% to close at 92.41 dollars a barrel, and Brent crude dropped 2.1% to close at 104.32 dollars. For the week, US crude fell 7.9%, while Brent was roughly flat. Year to date, WTI is up nearly 61% and Brent is up more than 71%.

HawkEye 360 has secured roughly $18 million in new Middle East contracts for its space-based signals intelligence services. The wins come as the RF-focused defense stock's share price return sits down about 17% over the past month and roughly 53% year to date, a backdrop of fading momentum despite recent index additions and new European partnerships. HawkEye 360 last closed at $16.10, while the most followed narrative pegs fair value near $32.56, implying the stock is 50.5% undervalued under a model using a 7.9% discount rate. Bulls point to the fresh contracts, index inclusions and the gap to analyst targets, while bears focus on share price losses and ongoing net income pressure.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen revealed that it intercepted 2 guided missiles and 2 drones fired into Saudi Arabia by the Iran-backed Houthi group. The two missiles were headed toward the city of Khamis Mushait, while the two drones were headed toward Riyadh. Civil defense authorities issued warning alerts overnight for the Khamis Mushait and Abha areas, but no alert was issued for Riyadh. The attack came after the Houthis announced a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia in July, targeting Saudi ships in the Red Sea, creating pressure on global oil supplies and risk to Red Sea shipping routes, while navigation through the Strait of Hormuz remains largely blocked. Amid the situation, military commanders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey, which are defense allies, met in Riyadh just a few hours earlier to review the threats Saudi Arabia is facing, after the three countries signed the joint Mecca defense agreement in August, which states that an armed attack on any one country will be considered an attack on all. Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said he discussed with Asim Munir, Pakistan's army chief, in Riyadh and confirmed the continuation of joint cooperation to counter attacks under the agreement.

Firefly Aerospace signed a multi-launch agreement with SSC Space for two Alpha rocket launches from Sweden's Esrange Space Center, marking the company's first planned orbital launch site on mainland Europe. Under the deal, signed September 9, SSC Space purchased the full payload capacity across both flights to distribute among its own government and commercial clients, with the missions targeted for no earlier than 2028 to carry Swedish national security and commercial payloads. CEO Jason Kim described the arrangement as a "launch as a franchise" model that gives NATO allies flexible orbital access while granting Firefly pricing power and operational leverage. The win builds on completed groundwork at Esrange, including a launch control center, payload processing facility, integration building, and tracking systems, with the launch pad now in its final construction stages. The agreement adds to a diversified pipeline that includes a $144 million NASA award for a Blue Ghost lunar lander, an extended Lockheed Martin deal covering up to 25 Alpha launches through 2031, a $94 million Space Force radar contract, and a spot on the $981 million NITE-STAR test and training program, alongside a 659% year-over-year Q2 revenue surge to $117.7 million and full-year guidance of $420 million to $450 million. Because the Esrange missions are not scheduled to lift off before 2028 and depend on a pad still under construction, the deal enriches forward backlog rather than near-term income statements.

The TISCO Economic and Strategic Analysis Center, or TISCO ESU, assesses that global financial markets are entering a phase of capital competition, as governments around the world need to borrow heavily to expand defense budgets while private-sector big tech and hyperscaler firms seek to raise enormous sums to accelerate the buildout of data center infrastructure, chip fabrication plants, AI facilities, and power plants. This is pushing interest rates and government bond yields up by roughly 0.60 to 0.90 percent. Komson Prapakpol, head of the TISCO Economic and Strategic Analysis Center, said the United States plans to expand its defense budget from 1 trillion dollars to 1.5 trillion dollars, an increase of 50 percent, while Japan aims to raise defense spending from below 2 percent to 3.5 percent of GDP, the highest level since the period from 1970 to 1980. Germany and France are also accelerating increases in their security budgets. Thanaphat Thanachat, an analyst at TISCO ESU, said the United States has public debt exceeding 100 percent of GDP, or more than 40 trillion dollars, and a fiscal deficit as high as 6 percent of GDP per year, driving its interest burden to double that of four to five years ago. France's public debt has risen by nearly 20 percent of GDP between 2019 and 2025, with an annual deficit of 5 percent of GDP. As for the interest rate path of the three major central banks, TISCO ESU expects the Federal Reserve to raise rates one more time, by about 0.25 percent, at its December meeting, ending at 4.25 percent, and to hold at that level through 2027 before cutting in 2028. The European Central Bank is expected to raise rates one more time, by about 0.25 percent, in December, while the Bank of Japan is expected to gradually keep raising rates until they reach 1.75 percent in mid-2027. The yield on 10-year U.S. government bonds is expected in the base case to hold steady at 5 percent through the end of 2026, but if the Federal Reserve fails to control inflation, the worst case could see the bond yield rise to 6 percent.

The United States is critically short on air defense interceptors and long-range standoff missiles, the two weapons it would need most in a hypothetical conflict with China, according to a defense analyst speaking on Bloomberg Businessweek. The analyst said President Trump's reference to U.S. missiles and stockpiles in his UN General Assembly address broke with convention, and warned that Beijing would be watching gleefully because the shortfall means the U.S. would be less able to bring its potential military power to bear. The Pentagon's FY 2027 Program Acquisition Costs by Weapon System, dated April 21, 2026, funds a surge in interceptor and precision-munitions buys, and the primes named on those lines stand to gain most. RTX booked over $5 billion in GEM-T Patriot effectors, including its first domestic GEM-T production order in over 30 years, plus $1.8 billion in AMRAAM in the second quarter, and carries a $289 billion backlog. L3Harris controls the sole large-scale solid rocket motor supply for both THAAD and PAC-3, backed by a $12 billion seven-year framework agreement, while Lockheed Martin is the THAAD prime named in the budget document and won a seven-year, $35 billion Missile Defense Agency contract to quadruple THAAD interceptor production. Two catalysts could turn the thesis into results: a promised PAC-3 multi-year contract in the second half of 2026 and congressional action on the administration's $67 billion supplemental weapons-replenishment request and the $1.1 trillion Department of Defense base budget for fiscal 2027.

US President Donald Trump signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland on Tuesday, September 22, to strengthen security in the Arctic region and the North Atlantic. The agreement opens the way for the US to expand its bases in Greenland and helps ease tensions arising from Trump's repeated demands that Greenland become part of the United States. The signing took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, after the US leader announced over the weekend an agreement to expand US military space in Greenland while keeping Greenland under Danish control. The agreement will remain in effect even if Greenland eventually becomes independent from Denmark, opening the way for the US to upgrade and expand activities at Pituffik Space Base, and states that the US may establish defense areas at Narsarsuaq in the south and Mestersvig in the east, and may establish additional defense areas in Greenland and increase operational capabilities or military facilities. Speaking to the UN General Assembly, Trump said the US will immediately begin a major expansion of military space in suitable areas, including building two large bases in Greenland. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said no decision has yet been made on the details of the Golden Dome missile defense system that Trump plans to build, and that countries that are not NATO members will not be allowed to establish military bases in Greenland or maintain a permanent military presence there unless all three parties agree. The agreement has no expiration date, and if Greenland becomes independent, Greenland agrees that it will remain a NATO member.

The United States, Denmark, and Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark, signed an agreement in New York yesterday (Sept 22) to expand the US military presence on this strategically important island. At the signing ceremony, held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the agreement was signed by US President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen. Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said all Iranian airlines will be barred from operating starting today (Sept 23), after the United States tightened its sanctions on Iran. President Donald Trump also told the UNGA that the United States and Iran could reach a peace deal after the US midterm elections. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Trump is open to meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met with President Trump in New York yesterday, where the two agreed to cooperate closely on issues related to China, including economic security, before Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for his first official visit to the United States in 11 years.

Rocket Lab has secured $1.94 billion through an at-the-market share sale to fund its planned Iridium acquisition, replacing a planned $3.6 billion bridge facility and reducing its need for debt financing at the cost of a higher share count. The company also added to its order pipeline with a $190 million award for 20 HASTE hypersonic test flights and a separate $266 million Space Force contract covering at least 12 suborbital missions, and it was selected by Viasat to provide a satellite bus for a protected communications program. Rocket Lab has completed 96 Electron launches, including 17 missions this year. Raymond James initiated coverage with an $80 price target, citing growth opportunities and a potential path toward positive EBITDA and free cash flow by 2027 or 2028, though the company still reports negative free cash flow and operating losses. Shares climbed about 2% Tuesday as investors weighed the defense awards, satellite work and financing progress.

The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed an agreement in New York on 22 September to expand the US military presence on Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark. The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, and was attended by President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen. The agreement paves the way for the United States to add two more bases to the existing Pituffik Space Base: Narsarsuaq in the south, where the United States plans to return to a Cold War-era base, and Mestersvig on the east coast, which is currently a Danish dog-sled patrol unit. It also allows the United States to install the Golden Dome missile defence system in Greenland, given the island's position on the Arctic route between North America and Europe. The agreement also bars countries outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from establishing bases in Greenland and restricts strategically sensitive investment from countries the United States regards as rivals, particularly China and Russia. At the same time, the agreement states clearly that Greenland remains Danish, that sovereignty is not transferred to the United States, and that it will remain in force even if Greenland gains independence in the future, with key conditions concerning continued NATO membership.

President Donald Trump announced a security agreement with Denmark and Greenland that would give the United States a permanent role in the Arctic territory's security and prevent adversaries from establishing military bases or making sensitive investments without U.S. approval. Trump said the United States would begin developing a larger military presence on the island, and the agreement is expected to be signed during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, though its full terms have not been released. Morningstar analysts led by Christian Aufsatz said Greenland's strategic importance is likely to be realized sooner through its military position and potential Arctic trade routes than through its mineral resources, noting the island's role in the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom Gap, a key maritime corridor linking North American and European markets. The commentary said greater Arctic navigation could eventually create routes shortening travel between Asia, Europe and North America, increasing the potential for Greenland to serve as a location for deep-water ports, refueling facilities and logistics stations, while cautioning that climate-related uncertainty remains substantial. Morningstar also said Greenland has offshore hydrocarbon basins and rock formations that could host lithium, copper and rare earth elements, but stressed that geological potential does not guarantee commercially viable resources, as Greenland has not achieved the same exploration success as other regions and does not currently have significant mineable mineral deposits or proven oil and gas reserves ready for extraction.

Syntec Optics Holdings, Inc. announced a landmark order to enable vital U.S. Space Force infrastructure and advanced reconnaissance operations, which the company called the most critical order in its 25-year history. The Rochester, New York-based maker of high-precision optics and photonics, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker OPTX, said it will build optics for government satellite constellations intended to protect the country, with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office beginning to build out the constellation and the U.S. Space Force able to use the information sent down to help keep the military safe. CFO Dean Rudy said the company is beginning to build a pro forma for space product lines in excess of $100 million in backlog, adding that the NRO is funding a giant network of low-flying satellites and the Space Force will keep growing that network through the rest of the 2020s. Syntec said it has already built thousands of special laser connections so satellites can talk to each other in space, and that its optics can survive the hot and freezing temperatures of space and track things on Earth in real time. The announcement comes as Air Force Secretary Troy Meink publicly confirmed at the Air & Space Forces Association's annual conference in Maryland that the threat is changing faster than thought possible, following an executive order by the U.S. President to establish a commission to advance space as a core defense arm.

President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran's economy or eliminate its leaders if no agreement is reached with the United States before the Iranian delegation travels to the United Nations General Assembly, or UNGA, in New York this week. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, September 20, Trump said the only options on the table are to obliterate Iran or let its economy collapse if the two sides fail to reach a deal. Iran's military, meanwhile, said its intelligence units had detected signs that the United States and its allies were preparing a new large-scale surprise attack, and warned it would retaliate painfully across the Middle East and would treat any country in the region that supports such an attack as a party to the war. Iranian media, citing the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said that if the United States makes a mistake against Iran, all U.S. bases and interests in the region will be targeted continuously, effectively, and painfully. The move marks a new escalation in the seven-month U.S.-Iran conflict. The Iranian delegation, led by President Masoud Pezeshkian, is scheduled to attend the UNGA meeting and hold talks with various world leaders on the sidelines. Trump has not ruled out meeting Pezeshkian, but is still deciding whether to strike Iran decisively. The U.S. State Department issued a security alert warning of the risk of an unexpected escalation in the Middle East, urging Americans to exercise greater caution and prepare for the possibility of flight cancellations and airspace closures.

Elon Musk said on SpaceX's August 4, 2026 earnings call that Starlink could deliver a majority of the world's internet traffic in less than 10 years, driven by a next-generation satellite that multiplies delivered bandwidth by roughly two orders of magnitude. In a post on X, Musk said connectivity per satellite will be about 10 terabits per second in both directions, with a path to more than 100 Tbps, and that each satellite is 250kW and will carry a SpaceX-designed Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 computer. SpaceX expects to launch about an order of magnitude more Starlink V3 satellites than V2, and Musk said that even if monetization per bit drops by a factor of 10, Starlink revenue would still rise 10x; an FCC filing covering up to 100,000 Gen3 satellites was accepted for filing in mid-September 2026 but has not been approved. The Q2 2026 results showed total revenue of $7.81 billion, up 92% year over year, with the connectivity segment contributing $4.3 billion, up 66%, more than 1.7 million net consumer subscribers added, ARPU of $66 per month, and enterprise and government revenue up 108% on deals with American Airlines, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic, Iberia and Aer Lingus plus over $6 billion in multi-year Space Force Starshield contracts. Management said a critical mass of about 1,000 V3 satellites is needed before service improvements become significant, expected by approximately the second quarter of next year, and Musk told analysts that a year from now SpaceX will be doing at least one flight a day and possibly more. SPCX shares closed at $152.71 on September 18, up 9.35% over the past month.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, faced two air-raid warnings in the early hours of today, September 19, marking the first time the country's capital has seen such alerts since the period when war between the United States and Iran intensified in March and April. Saudi Arabia's early-warning system issued an emergency alert in Riyadh at 4:00 a.m. and again at 6:00 a.m., without disclosing further details. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's civil defense authority said the danger had ended shortly after both alerts. Other areas across the country received similar warnings throughout the past night, including Jeddah and Yanbu on the Red Sea, as well as Farasan Island in the Red Sea. The warnings came amid a new wave of attacks Saudi Arabia has faced in September, with the Iran-backed Houthis based in Yemen striking cities in western Saudi Arabia, including energy infrastructure, over the past week. The Saudi government said a drone attack from Iraq, home to several Iran-backed armed groups, forced the East-West oil pipeline to halt operations. In addition, attacks on the pipeline and Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz have sharply reduced Saudi Arabia's oil exports and created further problems for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's leader. The renewed conflict also risks affecting Saudi Arabia's efforts to attract investment and tourists, part of its push to diversify the country's economic structure. In October, Riyadh is scheduled to host Saudi Arabia's flagship investment conference, the Future Investment Initiative, with the 2026 annual gathering set to welcome several senior Wall Street executives, including JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs Group.

CACI International announced a one-year plus four option periods US$1.50 billion-ceiling Apollo award to support U.S. Central Command, alongside being selected by Vantor to provide optical imaging payloads for its planned Vantor Pulse satellite fleet. The Apollo award strengthens near-term revenue visibility and fits a pattern of federal customers consolidating critical work with fewer providers on large, multi-year frameworks, though it does not remove risks around federal budget volatility and contract timing. CACI's narrative projects $12.2 billion revenue and $727.8 million earnings by 2029, requiring 8.3% yearly revenue growth and a roughly $192 million earnings increase from $535.8 million today. Some of the most optimistic analysts already expected CACI to reach about US$12.7 billion of revenue and US$862 million of earnings before this news. The company's forecasts yield a $724.50 fair value, a 16% upside to its current price.

The United States, Denmark and Greenland have reached a landmark agreement that opens the way for the US to have a long-term security role in Greenland. Kobsak Pootrakool, Senior Executive Vice President of Bangkok Bank, or BBL, posted on Facebook under the name Kobsak Pootrakool, stating that Denmark and Greenland have granted the US the rights to use Greenland as the US wants, to serve as a key strategic point for building the Golden Dome and for controlling shipping through the emerging Arctic route. President Trump announced that this agreement gives the US permanent control over security and all other necessary matters in Greenland, at no cost to the US, and that countries hostile to the US will not be able to establish military bases, station troops, or invest in sensitive businesses in Greenland without explicit written approval from the US. Kobsak stated that this agreement is eternal, with no end date, and that the US will immediately begin the process of establishing a large military force in suitable areas of Greenland. He also viewed this as significant progress within the framework of the Donroe Doctrine, under which the US seeks to control key points around its neighborhood in North and South America, following Panama, Venezuela, Colombia and Greenland, with Cuba and Brazil remaining, awaiting the October 4 election.

US President Donald Trump told reporters on the evening of Wednesday, September 16, that he hopes the war with Iran, now dragging into its seventh month, is nearing an end, saying Iran wants a deal and that he had been contacted directly by Iran, though he did not disclose further details. The remarks came amid escalating tensions after the Saudi Arabian air force launched strikes in Yemen and Houthi rebels retaliated by firing missiles and sending drones to attack various Saudi cities, including the Red Sea oil port of Yanbu and the Khamis Mushait air base in the south, according to a statement by Yahya Saree, spokesman for the Houthi military. The war erupted on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, before Tehran fired back at Israel and US bases in the Persian Gulf countries. The attack on Saudi Arabia that damaged the East-West oil pipeline has prompted oil traders to warn that if the pipeline is forced to halt shipments for an extended period, as much as 4% of global oil supply could be lost. Saudi authorities have not yet specified when the pipeline will be able to resume operation. The spread of the war into Yemen is also compounding the global energy shortage, after the earlier conflict cut off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which once carried one-fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas. As a result, Brent crude traded at around 108 dollars a barrel on Wednesday, near its highest level since May, while US retail diesel prices surged to a record high of more than 6.30 dollars a gallon, which is becoming major political pressure on the Republican Party ahead of the midterm elections in November. Axios reported, citing sources, that President Trump is scheduled to meet with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, which comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next Tuesday, September 22, to discuss the next steps in the war with Iran. The conflict between the Saudi-led alliance and the Houthis, which has been underway since 2015 and had once calmed under a ceasefire agreement, flared up violently again after the Houthis declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia last July.

SpaceX shares rose 5.1% to $151 in mid-morning trading Wednesday, pushing the stock back above the $150 level it first reached when it began trading June 12 following an IPO priced at $135. The catalyst was fresh policy news: U.S. defense officials confirmed on-orbit space-control weapons and highlighted progress on the Golden Dome interceptor program, tied to multibillion-dollar SpaceX contracts awarded earlier this year, pointing investors toward Starshield, SpaceX's national security satellite business, which already holds more than $6 billion in multi-year Space Force contracts for LEO-based communications and sensing. The Pentagon's FY 2027 budget request carries a $17.9 billion Golden Dome line item covering advanced space-based and terrestrial sensors, command and control, kinetic interceptors, and next-generation non-kinetic programs, and SpaceX is the only operator with a proliferated LEO constellation at production scale. The fundamental backdrop supports the move: the August 4 8-K showed Q2 revenue of $7.81 billion, beating the $6.82 billion consensus by 15%, with EPS of -$0.09 versus the -$0.29 estimate, Starlink subscribers doubling to 12.0 million, connectivity revenue up 66% year over year, and enterprise and government revenue climbing 108% on airline partnerships and Starshield contracts. Traditional missile-defense primes Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Northrop Grumman all sit inside the Golden Dome supply chain for interceptors, sensors, and integration, while pure-play space names like Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile tend to move with SpaceX headlines; SpaceX carries a $47.50 billion backlog and $93.52 billion in cash, alongside $18.37 billion in quarterly capex, $15.83 billion of which went into AI compute, with a market cap of roughly $1.16 trillion. Even after Wednesday's rally, SPCX trades 33% below its intraday high of $226 on June 16, and the tell into the close is whether it can hold above $151 and turn the IPO open price into support rather than a ceiling, with the next Starship V3 test flight, any Pentagon follow-on Starshield task orders, and updates on the pending $60 billion Cursor acquisition expected to close in Q3 as near-term catalysts.

One Stop Systems has received an approximately $400,000 award from a leading U.S. defense prime contractor for advanced modeling and simulation of U.S. missile defense systems in support of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The award covers the company's latest generation 4UP Max PCIe expansion platform configured with eight NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPUs, marking the first deployment of this configuration with the customer. OSS said the system is intended to provide a significant compute technology upgrade for advanced missile defense modeling and simulation workloads. President and CEO Mike Knowles said the award demonstrates the value of the company's latest-generation computing platforms for some of the defense industry's most demanding simulation workloads and validates its ability to support critical national defense applications. OSS said it is seeing increased demand for high-end simulation environments and believes these trends are creating additional opportunities across missile defense and other advanced defense applications, including next-generation homeland missile defense architectures and fifth- and sixth-generation platform performance modeling.

A United Nations survey found that people around the world are increasingly worried that a large-scale war is a global risk that could materialize in the near future. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia declared a security alert covering multiple areas on Tuesday, September 15, including the city of Mecca and the city of Jeddah, after being repeatedly attacked over the past week by Iran-aligned armed groups. A South Korean court ordered North Korea to pay 44.6 billion won, or 32.5 million US dollars, in damages to the South Korean government over the destruction of the inter-Korean liaison office building in 2020, marking the first time in history that the South Korean government has sued North Korea and won. Meanwhile, the US Congressional Budget Office disclosed that the war between the United States and Iran over the past six months has already consumed more than 38 billion US dollars in budget spending, with that figure expected to rise by another 3 billion US dollars per month, and it could push inflation up by 0.5% during the first three months of 2027. Separately, Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday that Thailand may impose an excise tax of around 30% on fully imported electric vehicles, the first disclosure of the rate that could be used to encourage automakers to produce in the country.

The war with Iran has cost the U.S. Department of Defense a total of $38.1 billion through August 1, and could add another $2 billion to $3 billion per month if the fighting drags on. The Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, estimates that more than half of the cost came from procuring missiles and munitions to replace those expended, while costs from increased flying hours came to $10.4 billion and higher oil prices added another $2.7 billion. The war has also reduced the U.S. stockpile of missile interceptors by as much as two-thirds of the level that existed as of June 2025, largely because the United States helped Israel intercept Iranian attacks, and the CBO says replenishing the stockpile could take at least five years even with expanded production capacity. On the inflation impact, the CBO estimates that the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, or PCE, the inflation gauge the Fed watches most closely, will rise 0.5 point by the first quarter of 2027, while core PCE is expected to be 0.3 point higher, with gasoline and other fuel prices accounting for roughly 40% of the increase in goods prices caused by the war. The release of the new projections may intensify debate over whether the cost of this war was worthwhile, after Trump initially said the war would last only a few weeks, while Democrats campaign on an anti-war platform ahead of the U.S. midterm elections on November 3.

HawkEye 360, Inc. and Leonardo S.p.A. announced a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a structured collaboration to integrate HawkEye 360's radio-frequency sensing capabilities into Leonardo's Telespazio and e-Geos space service solutions for European customers. Under the MoU, Leonardo will lead overall data integration and manage institutional engagement across Europe through its geospatial solutions, while HawkEye 360 will provide dedicated RF data capacity tailored to European operational needs. The first phase focuses on integrating a customized RF layer into Leonardo's global Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance service offering, including exclusive reserved capacity for defined European areas of interest, with data delivered through Italian ground stations and EU-based cloud infrastructure to reduce latency and enhance European data sovereignty. The MoU also outlines a phased pathway for deeper collaboration, including cooperation on payload technologies such as RF localization, E/O and hyperspectral, manufacturing and hosting on respective systems, and expanded interoperability between HawkEye 360's RF analytics and Leonardo's sensing solutions. HawkEye 360 Chief Executive Officer John Serafini said the collaboration represents an important step in supporting European nations with reliable, integrated RF insights embedded within their own architectures, while Massimo Claudio Comparini, Managing Director of Leonardo's Space Division, said it strengthens Leonardo's role as a trusted European integrator of sovereign space-based intelligence.

Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force assembled a fully integrated inert Sentinel missile at Vandenberg Space Force Base, clearing a key technical milestone ahead of flight testing planned for 2027. The missile was stacked vertically in its operational orientation during a four-month exercise known as Pathfinder, which tested whether the program team could transport, handle, stack and integrate the missile safely at a launch site. The exercise included all missile stages, propulsion elements, the protective shroud and related components, along with specialized transportation vehicles, mobile crane operations and launch pad interfaces; the inert missile was taken apart after the exercise. Separately, Northrop Grumman and the Air Force's 719th Test Squadron completed the first flight-test Critical Design Review, which determined that the missile's design maturity and hardware testing met Air Force requirements for performance, safety and scheduling. Amanda Davis, vice president and general manager of strategic deterrent systems at Northrop Grumman, said the vertical assembly demonstrates momentum toward test launching Sentinel in 2027 and having missiles on alert by the early 2030s. Northrop leads a nationwide Sentinel team of more than 500 suppliers and over 10,000 workers, and the planned system is intended to remain operational through 2075 as the Air Force replaces the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system.

AeroVironment's BlueHalo unit received a U.S. Air Force contract valued at up to $99.8 million for research and development supporting military space systems, the Pentagon announced Friday. The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract covers the Leveraged Orbital Battlespace Optimization program, with work to take place in Huntsville, Alabama and at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico through Aug. 29, 2031. The $99.8 million figure represents the contract's maximum potential value rather than guaranteed revenue; at the time of the award, the Air Force obligated about $1.7 million in fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funding to support two initial task orders with a combined ceiling of approximately $20.2 million. The Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland is managing the contract, which the Air Force described as competitive although only one offer was received. Shares of AeroVironment rose 4.8% by 11:16 a.m. ET on Monday following the announcement.