War Contracts

Peraton Awarded $109.1 Million Air Force Space Weather Contract

The Herndon, Virginia, national security firm received a sole-source award to sustain and upgrade the Space Weather Analysis and Forecast System through February 2033, with work performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

First Published: July 31, 2026, 1:23 PM ET

HERNDON, VIRGINIA — Peraton Inc., the national security and technology contractor based in Herndon, Virginia, received a $109.1 million Air Force contract to sustain and upgrade the military’s space weather forecasting system, as announced on war.gov.

The hybrid fixed-price, level-of-effort, and cost-plus-fixed-fee award covers the Space Weather Analysis and Forecast System. Space Systems Command’s Directorate of Contracting obligated fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance funds of $3.8 million and research, development, test and evaluation funds of $1.1 million at award, as announced on war.gov. The contract was a sole-source acquisition, meaning the government identified Peraton as the only qualified supplier.

Peraton, formed in 2017 and owned by private-equity firm Veritas Capital, reported revenue of about $7 billion in 2023 and employs more than 18,000 people, according to Google. Its service areas span space, intelligence, cyber, defense, homeland security, and health, according to peraton.com. The award marks the third contract to Peraton in 2026, lifting the company’s total for the year to about $143.5 million and ranking as the 150th Department of Defense contract in Virginia this year, according to firestore:contracts.

The work provides for sustainment, maintenance, legacy capability migration, and continued development of enhancements to operations and cybersecurity. Space weather forecasting tracks solar activity that can disrupt satellites, navigation signals, and power grids, so the system matters to both military operations and civilian infrastructure. Work will be performed at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and completion is expected by February 18, 2033.

For the average reader, space weather forecasting rarely draws attention, yet its output shapes daily life. Solar storms can degrade GPS accuracy, interrupt airline communications on polar routes, and threaten the electrical grid, so the systems Peraton maintains help protect services that millions rely on.

This has happened before. Peraton has repeatedly secured large government awards, including a $2.69 billion Homeland Security contract for data center and cloud services and a role in a $31.5 billion effort to modernize the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control system, according to Google. Sole-source defense awards for specialized space systems are common when a single vendor holds the technical knowledge to sustain existing hardware and software.

Space Systems Command, the contracting activity, will oversee performance and future funding decisions on the award. A date for the next funding action has not been announced, though additional obligations typically follow annual appropriations cycles.

Military interest in space weather stretches back decades, as happened before. The U.S. began systematic solar monitoring during the 1940s, and forecasters warned of geomagnetic disruptions that scrambled radio traffic during World War II. A powerful solar storm in March 1989 knocked out the Hydro-Québec power grid for roughly nine hours, leaving about 6 million people without electricity, according to Google. That event pushed defense and civilian agencies to expand forecasting programs that contractors like Peraton now sustain.

This contract represents the 3rd contract awarded to Peraton Inc., in 2026, bringing the company’s total contract value for the year to $143,519,157. It is also the 150th Department of Defense contract awarded in Virginia during 2026. While this is not the largest contract ever awarded to Peraton Inc., whose record stands at $206,523,543, it is notable within the Air Force portfolio. Specifically, it falls between the 2026 Air Force portfolio’s year-to-date minimum of $17 and maximum of $5,600,000,000. Overall, this award was announced among 3 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on July 31, 2026.