RESTON, VA, UNITED STATES, November 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Scout Space, a leading provider of space domain awareness (SDA) sensors and software, has announced it’s been selected for a $60M Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) award through the Air Force Research Laboratory’s SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force, in partnership with Space Systems Command’s System Delta 89 and the Space Force’s Space Combat Power Portfolio Acquisition Executive. The Program Year 2026.1 selections were announced August 20 at Fed Supernova in Austin, Texas.
Scout is one of 11 companies selected in this cycle, which brought together $562.5 million in combined funding from SpaceWERX, Space Force program offices, non-traditional businesses, and private capital, including $245 million in private capital matching.
The STRATFI program is designed to help companies that have proven their technology through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II efforts make the leap from prototype to operational capability. Building on its prior Space Force work, Scout will use the award to scale production capacity and grow its Owl suite of sensors, providing additional payload options, including multi-phenomenology sensing and intelligence on other objects in orbit.
“This award provides the strategic roadmap to advance the technology we’ve already proven in flight and scale it with direct input from our government customers, while ensuring we can meet the demand of commercial partners. Combined with our recent Series A and the buildout of our Northern Virginia production facility, we’re positioned to put more sensors in space at lower cost and shorter lead times,” said Josiah Gruber, CEO of Scout Space.
In announcing the selections, SpaceWERX Director Arthur Grijalva described STRATFI as a critical tool for the Space Force to signal demand to industry and private investors, de-risk innovative technologies, and help small and non-traditional businesses scale game-changing capabilities faster and more affordably.
The STRATFI award follows Scout’s three Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contracts with the U.S. Space Force, one to deliver a new Geostationary Orbit (GEO) space domain awareness sensor, a second to enhance SDA through on-board data processing, and a third to develop a hardware-agnostic flight software testbed for SDA payloads. It also follows the close of the company’s Series A investment round in June 2026.
Scout’s platform-agnostic systems combine advanced payloads, edge processing, and autonomous software to detect, track, and characterize objects in orbit, supporting safer and more informed operations across commercial and national security missions. The company has flown six payloads to orbit and has roughly a dozen additional missions planned over the next two years.
About Scout Space
Scout Space, headquartered in Reston, Virginia, provides in-space products and services that allow spacecraft to see and understand the environment around them. Its sensors and software enable real-time awareness and responsiveness in orbit for commercial and national security customers. Learn more at Scout.Space.
About SpaceWERX
SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force and a division of AFWERX, partners with startups, small businesses and nontraditional vendors to accelerate commercial space technologies for Guardians. Headquartered in Los Angeles, SpaceWERX connects industry innovation with defense needs to deliver capabilities faster. In partnership with Space Systems Command’s Commercial Space Office, SpaceWERX bridges innovation and acquisition to accelerate capability adoption. In fiscal year 2025, SpaceWERX awarded more than 300 contracts totaling $510 million. For more information, visit Spacewerx.us.
Jessica Jones
Scout Space Inc.
+1 214-864-1516
pr@scout.space
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