The Space Review: Military space systems: the road ahead by Matthew Hoey

In recent years military space contracts have been an “oligopoly” of the “Big 6” in the US defense industry: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics (Spectrum Astro), and Orbital Sciences, which is slowly becoming a leading provider of space systems alongside the other five. These companies are listed by economic dominance over the past 12 months. Satellites developed by these companies typically range in size from 500 to 10,000 kilograms and in price from $25 million to $1 billion. Big companies, big satellites, and big price tags.