Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: March 30 – April 3: Artemis II Launches for the Moon, CENTCOM Declares Space Superiority Over Iran, and Trump Drops a $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget

This week's Sirotin Intelligence analysis covers the historic April 1 launch of Artemis II — the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 — with the Orion spacecraft now en route to a lunar flyby, CENTCOM's declaration of space superiority over Iran as Gen. Saltzman confirmed Space Force Guardians were "integrated throughout" Operation Epic Fury from day one, and the Trump administration's release of a record $1.5 trillion FY27 defense budget request that includes $17.5 billion for Golden Dome and banks on $350 billion in reconciliation spending. SpaceX confidentially filed its S-1 with the SEC targeting a $1.75 trillion IPO — potentially the largest in financial history — the Army and Navy announced a successful joint hypersonic missile test from Cape Canaveral, and the Pentagon awarded Pratt & Whitney $6.6 billion for F-35 engine production Lots 18–19. The Pentagon issued its Swarm Forge solicitation ahead of a June drone swarm "Crucible," a second Starlink satellite disintegrated in orbit within three months raising fresh debris concerns, and Isar Aerospace scrubbed its second Spectrum orbital launch attempt after a rogue boat violated the range — and our interview this week is with Sylwia Gorska, the space security expert returning for her second conversation with Sirotin Intelligence to discuss how the Iran war is reshaping U.S. alliance credibility in Asia, the missile defense drain from the Pacific, and what Tokyo does next.

🛡️ Defense Highlights

• CENTCOM declares space superiority over Iran – first-ever operational declaration as Space Force proves counterspace doctrine in combat: Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, declared this week that the U.S. has established control of the space domain during Operation Epic Fury — the first time the military has formally declared space superiority in an active conflict. The declaration came nearly a month after CENTCOM announced the destruction of "Iran's equivalent of Space Command," which degraded the IRGC's ability to coordinate retaliatory strikes. Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force's top uniformed officer, confirmed at the Mitchell Institute's Spacepower Security Forum on April 1 that Guardians were "integrated throughout" Iran operations, with space and cyber forces "blinding Iranian sensors" and severing military communications before the first aircraft crossed into Iranian airspace. Saltzman acknowledged "it wasn't really a fair fight," but said destroying Iran's space capabilities gave the military a decisive upper hand in communications and air operations within the CENTCOM theater.
• Trump requests record $1.5 trillion FY27 defense budget — Golden Dome gets $17.5 billion, reconciliation bill carries $350 billion: The Trump administration released its FY27 budget request on April 3, proposing $1.5 trillion in total defense spending — a $1.15 trillion base budget (the first time base defense spending has hit $1 trillion, a 28% increase from FY26) plus $350 billion from a forthcoming reconciliation bill, representing a 44% boost overall. The base budget includes roughly $260 billion for procurement and $220 billion for RDT&E. Golden Dome receives $17.5 billion in FY27, though $17.1 billion of that is contingent on reconciliation passing, with only $400 million in the base request. The budget arrives as the U.S. enters its fifth week of war with Iran.
• Army and Navy announce successful joint hypersonic missile test from Cape Canaveral — suspected Dark Eagle flight exceeds Mach 5: The Army's Portfolio Acquisition Executive Fires and the Navy's Strategic Systems Programs announced on April 2 the successful March 26 launch of a common hypersonic missile from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. While the Pentagon did not officially name the weapon, defense analysts widely believe the test involved the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (Dark Eagle), a program that has faced repeated testing delays. The Army is fielding a ground-based version while the Navy is integrating the common missile for its Conventional Prompt Strike capability aboard Zumwalt-class destroyers — supporting the National Defense Strategy by delivering a highly survivable capability against time-sensitive, heavily defended targets at speeds exceeding Mach 5.
• Pentagon awards Pratt & Whitney $6.6 billion for F-35 F135 engine Lots 18–19 — production rates up 20% after $1 billion facility investment: The Pentagon finalized a $6.6 billion contract with RTX's Pratt & Whitney for F135 engine production covering Lots 18 and 19, with a $3.8 billion modification definitizing Lot 18 and establishing the framework for Lot 19. The F135 powers all three F-35 variants, with deliveries for Lot 18 beginning this fall. Pratt has invested more than $1 billion over the past five years to expand and modernize production capacity, boosting F135 output by 20%. The program has delivered more than 1,400 engines to 20 allied nations and supports over 66,000 jobs across 47 U.S. states and territories.
• MDA expands SHIELD contractor pool to 2,400+ vendors under $151 billion Golden Dome vehicle: The Missile Defense Agency continued expanding its Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) contract, bringing the total number of qualified vendors to more than 2,400 entities across three award tranches. The potential 10-year, $151 billion multiple-award vehicle underpins the Golden Dome multi-layer missile defense architecture. Task orders are expected to emphasize open systems design, model-based systems engineering, and AI/ML-enabled rapid prototyping, with the ordering period extending through December 2035 if all options are exercised.
• Pentagon issues Swarm Forge solicitation ahead of June "Crucible" — autonomous drone swarms must operate in GPS-denied, EW-contested environments: The Chief Digital and AI Office issued the Swarm Forge solicitation on March 31, one of Defense Secretary Hegseth's "pace-setting" AI projects. The Crucible demonstration event is scheduled for June 22–26, where industry must show end-to-end autonomous completion of find-fix-finish mission sets using a minimum of four simultaneous UAS. The Pentagon wants swarms that can navigate and communicate in GPS-denied and electronic warfare environments — a direct lesson from the Ukraine-Russia war — using visual or inertial navigation and resilient comms links. The solicitation aims to close a critical capability gap: the U.S. currently lacks the inventory and doctrine to deploy massed, coordinated, low-cost robotic systems at scale.
• ULA plans modified Vulcan static fire at end of April — no return-to-flight date set as Northrop Grumman investigates GEM 63XL nozzle failure: ULA is targeting a static fire test of modified solid rocket booster hardware at the end of April, following the February 12 GEM 63XL nozzle anomaly that grounded the Vulcan Centaur indefinitely. The Space Force has paused all national security launches on Vulcan pending the investigation — the second such nozzle failure after a similar manufacturing defect in October 2024. No return-to-flight date has been set, and the grounding continues to cascade through the national security manifest as missions shift to SpaceX's Falcon 9.

Major Contract Awards This Week:

• Pratt & Whitney (RTX) – F135 engine production Lots 18–19: A $6,600,000,000 contract modification for full-rate production of F135 engines powering F-35 Lightning II aircraft, covering Lots 18 and 19, including initial spares, modules, engineering resources, program oversight, and dedicated production support services.
• BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P. – 155mm M776 cannon tube production: A $145,830,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the production of 155mm M776 cannon tubes in support of the M777A2 155mm howitzer.
• The Boeing Co. – T-38 Avionics sustainment: A ceiling $900,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for T-38 Avionics sustainment and support, with work performed at multiple Air Force bases across the U.S. and internationally, through April 2027.
• SupplyCore Inc. – Facilities maintenance supplies: A maximum $80,000,000 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for facilities maintenance, repair, and operations supplies.
• PlanetiQ Global Weather & Climate Solutions Inc. – Commercial weather data SBIR Phase II: A $14,993,986 firm-fixed-price contract for the Commercial Weather Data Program, providing GNSS Polarimetric Radio Occultation development, through March 2030.

🌐 Policy, Geopolitical & Legal Developments

• Artemis II launches on April 1 — first humans beyond LEO in 53 years, Orion completes TLI burn and is en route to lunar flyby: NASA's Space Launch System lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 6:35 PM EDT on April 1, sending Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day free-return trajectory around the Moon — the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972. Orion completed its translunar injection burn on April 2, departing Earth orbit for the Moon. The crew is now in transit toward a planned multi-hour lunar flyby on April 6, during which they will photograph and observe the lunar surface, including areas of the far side never seen directly by human eyes. Glover became the first person of color, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
• Saltzman delivers keynote at Mitchell Institute Spacepower Security Forum — Space Force was "baked in from day one" across Iran, Venezuela operations: Gen. Chance Saltzman told the Mitchell Institute on April 1 that "integrated, capable, lethal Guardians and space capabilities have played an outsized role in enabling the Joint Force to project power and meet our national strategic objectives" — citing operations in Iran and Venezuela. Saltzman described space as the opening salvo of Operation Epic Fury, with counterspace, SATCOM, missile warning, electronic warfare, and ISR capabilities preceding kinetic operations. Defense Department officials including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine identified space forces among the "first movers" in Epic Fury, helping pave the way for initial strikes and providing persistent effects throughout.
• FY27 budget request sets stage for congressional battle over reconciliation and Golden Dome funding: The $1.5 trillion defense request immediately drew bipartisan attention, with the $350 billion reconciliation component facing uncertain legislative prospects. Congressional appropriators had already tucked provisions into the FY26 defense bill demanding Golden Dome expenditure details by early April, with annual reporting thereafter. Independent cost estimates for the full Golden Dome architecture range from $540 billion to $3.6 trillion — and some analysts project as high as $6 trillion over 20 years — ensuring the program will remain a central flashpoint in defense authorization debates through the summer.
• Space Force shifts GPS III SV-10 to SpaceX Falcon 9 — final GPS III satellite launch targeted by end of April:Space Systems Command confirmed GPS III SV-10, the tenth and final satellite in the GPS III series, will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral no later than end of April after being reassigned from ULA's grounded Vulcan. The Lockheed Martin-built satellites provide three times greater positional accuracy and up to eight times improved jamming resistance compared to earlier GPS systems. The shift deepens SpaceX's dominance across the national security launch manifest as Vulcan's grounding extends into its third month.

🛰️ Technology & Commercial Developments

• SpaceX confidentially files S-1 with the SEC — $1.75 trillion valuation would make it the largest IPO in financial history: SpaceX filed its confidential registration statement with the SEC on April 1, targeting a $75 billion raise at a $1.75 trillion valuation — which would dwarf Saudi Aramco's $1.7 trillion debut as the largest IPO ever. The public S-1 is expected in late April or May, with the roadshow and Nasdaq listing targeting June 2026. SpaceX was valued at $1.25 trillion after its February 2026 merger with xAI and is reportedly allocating approximately 30% of IPO shares to retail investors — three times the Wall Street standard. The filing sent ripples across the space sector, lifting Planet Labs and Rocket Lab shares.
• Second Starlink satellite disintegrates in orbit within three months — LeoLabs detects dozens of debris fragments at 560 km days before Artemis II launch: Starlink satellite 34343 experienced an on-orbit anomaly on March 29, resulting in loss of communications and breakup at approximately 560 km altitude — the second unexplained Starlink disintegration in three months. LeoLabs radar observations indicate an "internal energetic source" as the likely cause rather than a collision, potentially related to the satellite's propulsion system or batteries. SpaceX stated the event poses no risk to the ISS or Artemis II, and most fragments are expected to reenter and burn up within weeks due to the relatively low altitude, but the repeat failure raises fresh questions about satellite reliability as the constellation surpasses 10,000 active spacecraft.
• SpaceX continues relentless Starlink cadence — 29 satellites launched April 2 on 15th-flight booster: SpaceX launched 29 Starlink satellites on April 2 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a Falcon 9 first stage flying for the 15th time — the same booster that previously launched Crew-9 to the ISS. The first stage landed on the droneship "Just Read the Instructions" in the Atlantic. SpaceX now operates more than 10,000 simultaneous Starlink satellites, roughly half of all active spacecraft in orbit.
• Planet Labs stock climbs 15.8% in March — $308 million FY26 revenue marks 26% YoY growth with Q4 up 41%:Planet Labs reported $308 million in revenue for fiscal year 2026, a 26% year-over-year increase, with Q4 revenues surging 41% YoY. The satellite imaging company achieved positive adjusted EBITDA and $52.9 million in free cash flow, with gross margins around 60% and approximately 98% recurring revenue. Shares climbed 15.8% in March, buoyed by strong earnings, new satellite deployments, and the SpaceX IPO filing lifting the broader space sector.
• Isar Aerospace scrubs second Spectrum orbital launch attempt — rogue boat forces range violation, propellant temperatures rise: German launch startup Isar Aerospace scrubbed its second orbital launch attempt from Andøya Spaceport in Norway on March 25 after an unauthorized boat violated the danger zone during countdown. The range cleared and the countdown reached T-3 seconds — just before engine ignition — when the flight aborted due to propellant temperatures rising during the extended hold. No new launch date has been announced, though a window no earlier than April 2026 is being targeted. Isar is in talks to raise €250 million ahead of the flight, which would position it as one of the best-funded European launch providers.
• Army and Navy common hypersonic missile test validates joint architecture — Conventional Prompt Strike and Dark Eagle converge: The successful March 26 hypersonic test from Cape Canaveral validates the joint approach to fielding a common missile across land- and sea-based platforms. The Navy's Conventional Prompt Strike is being integrated aboard Zumwalt-class destroyers, while the Army's Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (Dark Eagle) battery represents the ground-based variant. The convergence accelerates timelines and reduces costs while delivering a Mach 5+ strike capability against heavily defended targets — a critical deterrent as great-power competition intensifies.

💭 A Word From Christophe Bosquillon

At Ignition, NASA chief Jared Isaacman announced sweeping changes to the Artemis program, "returning to the Moon, this time to stay:" cancel Gateway, urgently build a Moon base, monthly robotic missions to the lunar surface starting in 2027, crewed missions twice a year to the Moon from 2028... Beyond the April 1st Artemis II's historic take-off for a nine-day crewed lunar flyby, NASA will transition from one-off mission architectures to scalable permanent lunar infrastructures. 

Artemis also means science, a digital infrastructure, locally processed AI-enabled operations on the lunar surface, to develop a sustained cislunar economy. What dumping Gateway to fast-track a lunar base means practically, is major changes to acquisitions for CLPS and Lunar Terrain Vehicle, while balancing crewed and robotic missions. Fortunately, there is strong bipartisan support in Congress for the new plan, and the response from industry has been overly positive.  

With Gateway cancelled, besides Canada, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates, Europe is the most impacted through hundreds of millions of Euros worth of contracts for Lunar I-Hab, Lunar View module, and Lunar Link telecommunications. For concerned primes Airbus and Thales Alenia Space and their subcontractors, the European Space Agency council June meeting is where members states will discuss options to repurpose their involvement in Artemis. Tweaking already delivered European Service Module iterations for post-SLS Orion, and making sure European astronauts participate, remain up in (the air) cislunar space.

SpaceX confidentially filed for record IPO, and as China develops low-cost lunar cargo options for its expanding Moon program, surfacing details of its spacecraft to land humans on the Moon by 2030, NASA considers using Starship to transport the Orioncapsule to the Moon after the SLS.

“American space superiority, we conquered frontiers, American exceptionalism isn't inherited, it is earned,” are the words now underpinning the Artemis video script. Ending a half-century hiatus, America goes back to the Moon, this time with The Right Stuff.Some things, after all, never change.

Alan Shepard: “Dear Lord, please don't let me f--- up.”
Gordon Cooper: “I didn't quite copy that. Say again, please.”
Alan Shepard: “I said everything's A-OK.”

Have a great Space Week ahead!

🎤 Our Next Guest: Sylwia Gorska

Sylwia Gorska is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the University of Central Lancashire whose doctoral research examines Japan-U.S. alliance dynamics in space security, dual-use technology governance, and Japan's evolving defense posture under its pacifist constitution. She is a regular commentator on East Asian security for TRT World and has published on nuclear safety and energy security through the Global Taiwan Institute. This is her second interview with Sirotin Intelligence — her first explored the U.S.-Japan space security alliance, Japan's wooden satellite program, and how constitutional constraints have driven unexpected innovation in space sustainability. This time, the questions are more immediate.

Key topics from the interview:

• What CENTCOM's space superiority declaration and the Iran war are actually doing to U.S. alliance credibility in Asia — and why Japan and South Korea are responding differently
• Why the redeployment of THAAD and Patriot systems from South Korea to the Middle East turns deterrence from a question of loyalty into a question of capacity — and what happens when the interceptor stockpile drops to 25 percent of target levels
• How China's steady gray-zone pressure around the Senkaku Islands and Taiwan exploits the distraction without escalation — "China does not need escalation to benefit from that"
• What the Takaichi-Trump Oval Office meeting — including the Pearl Harbor remark — reveals about the state of the alliance, and why Gorska reads Takaichi's silence as strategy, not submission
• Why Japan is diversifying defense partnerships across three continents at unprecedented speed — the Germany RAA, the Philippines munitions talks, the quiet oil diplomacy with Iran — and why none of it required amending Article Nine
• Whether Japan's constitutional constraints, the same ones that produced the world's first wooden satellite, are now the barrier to the response speed the current threat environment demands — or the source of the creativity that makes Japan indispensable

Watch Sylwia Gorska's YouTube preview Tuesday on the Sirotin Intelligence YouTube channel. Full interview drops Thursday.