AST SpaceMobile’s (ASTS) shares jumped about 7% early Friday after it secured a “prime contract position” — with the possibility of an open-ended contract — with the Missile Defense Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense.
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Under such a contract, the Texas-based company will execute a range of duties to support the quick delivery of “innovative capabilities” to soldiers involved in combat operations.
The contract under review is part of an American government program designed to protect the U.S. against missiles, drones, and other forms of threats across space, in the air, on the ground, and in cyberspace. The program is formally called the Missile Defense Agency Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD).
“The selection positions AST SpaceMobile to compete for a wide range of future task orders across research, development, engineering, prototyping, and operations of critical Missile Defense Agency systems that support U.S. national security objectives,” AST SpaceMobile explained in a statement.