The monthly analysis, July 2026
Where the money went, July 2026
USAspending contract awards in four space-relevant NAICS codes: space vehicles, propulsion, space vehicle parts, and space research and technology. Four codes of federal contract data, a narrow slice of the space economy. Agencies report awards one to four months late, and late rows can still arrive and move these totals.
US federal contract awards in four space-related NAICS codes totaled $529.2M across 57 awards in July 2026, up 204% from $174.1M across 63 awards in June 2026. The largest single award, $439.4M to Lockheed Martin Corporation, was 83% of the month's total. Agencies report awards one to four months late; this count was taken on October 16, 2026, and awards reported after that date can still move these totals.
One ATACMS award was 83% of July
Lockheed Martin Corporation received $439.4M from the Department of the Army for work described as ARMY TACTICAL MISSILE SYSTEM (ATACMS) LOT 7, with Texas as the place of performance. That single award was most of the month's $529.2M, at 83%. The second largest was $26.5M to General Dynamics-Ots, Inc., a delivery order for countermeasure munitions for the B-Kit, placed by the Defense Logistics Agency in Arkansas, at 5%.
Below those two the ten largest awards fall away fast: $20.6M, then $8.7M, then $8.4M, and the tenth is $1.8M. July's 57 awards follow 63 awards in June 2026, when the total was $174.1M.
Lockheed Martin's 91% sat beside Rtx's eight awards
Lockheed Martin Corporation took $479.8M, which is 91% of the month's dollars, across 6 awards, or 11% of the count. Five of the ten largest awards in July went to it. Its own total rests on one row: the ATACMS award is 92% of what the company received. The other Lockheed Martin awards among the ten largest are $20.6M for Phase 1 activities on the AGM-158 XR Block 0 airframe, $8.4M for a DMSMS case, and two Patriot Advanced Capabilities-3 Missile Support Center contracts at $5.6M and $4.4M.
Rtx Corporation won more awards than any other company, 8, which is 14% of the count, for $1.7M. The two leaders describe different things. One company holds the dollars, another appears most often in the list of awards.
Texas held 87% of dollars, Connecticut the most awards
Texas accounted for $462.1M, or 87% of July's total, across 7 awards, which is 12% of the count. The ATACMS award alone sits in that figure, along with the $8.7M Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services award to Axiom Space Inc and the two PAC-3 Missile Support Center contracts. Connecticut led every state by award count with 8 awards, 14% of the month, worth $1.7M.
Florida was second by value at $33.5M across 4 awards, carried by the $20.6M and $8.4M Lockheed Martin awards from the Department of the Air Force. Arkansas reached $26.5M on one award. Virginia shows 5 awards totaling $919K. These are places of performance, so they describe where the work happens.
Defense Logistics Agency placed 70% of July's awards
The Defense Logistics Agency placed 40 awards, 70% of the month's count, totaling $30.0M. The Department of the Army placed 5 awards worth $455.2M, and the Department of the Air Force placed 3 worth $31.7M. Those are three of the four largest of 7 sub-agencies by value.
At the agency level the Department of Defense had $518.7M, 98% of the dollars, and 55 of the awards, 96% of the count; its largest award is the Lockheed Martin ATACMS contract at 85% of the department's total. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had $10.5M across 2 awards, of which $8.7M to Axiom Space Inc is 83%. The other NASA award is $1.8M to Creare Llc for the Venus Mass Spectrometer Wide Range Pump for DAVINCI.
Vehicle manufacturing took 92%, parts manufacturing 24 awards
Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Manufacturing accounted for $486.9M, 92% of the dollars, across 17 awards, or 30% of the count. The Lockheed Martin ATACMS award is 90% of that category. Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing led the month by count with 24 awards, 42%, and $39.9M, of which the $26.5M to General Dynamics-Ots, Inc. is 67%.
Propulsion unit and propulsion unit parts manufacturing shows 15 awards, 26% of the count, for $2.2M, and the $1.8M Creare Llc award is 83% of that. Space Research and Technology has one award, $311K to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Manufacturing was also the leading project kind by value in June 2026.
The month in figures
By state, where the work is performed
Place of performance, not company headquarters.
By industry code
The largest awards
| Recipient | Amount | Awarding office | State | Signed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lockheed Martin Corporation | $439.4M | Department of the Army | TX | Jul 15, 2026 |
| General Dynamics-Ots, Inc. | $26.5M | Defense Logistics Agency | AR | Jul 15, 2026 |
| Lockheed Martin Corporation | $20.6M | Department of the Air Force | FL | Jul 1, 2026 |
| Axiom Space Inc | $8.7M | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | TX | Jul 28, 2026 |
| Lockheed Martin Corporation | $8.4M | Department of the Air Force | FL | Jul 16, 2026 |
| Lockheed Martin Corporation | $5.6M | Department of the Army | TX | Jul 1, 2026 |
| Drs Network & Imaging Systems Llc | $4.5M | Department of the Army | FL | Jul 15, 2026 |
| Lockheed Martin Corporation | $4.4M | Department of the Army | TX | Jul 14, 2026 |
| Unmanned Systems Incorporated | $2.7M | Department of the Air Force | TX | Jul 2, 2026 |
| Creare Llc | $1.8M | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | NH | Jul 28, 2026 |
Each amount links to the award's own record at USAspending.
Hiring, read alongside the money
Job listings on the company boards we track rose from 6,235 to 6,719, or 7.8 percent, between September 24, 2026 and October 29, 2026, and Engineering & science led with 3,605 listings, 53.7 percent of the total. Business & administrative shifted the most in share, up 0.7 points, and its listing count rose by 147.
| Discipline | Listings now | On Sep 24, 2026 | Share | Share change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering & science | 3,605 | 3,378 | 53.7% | -0.5 pts |
| Business & administrative | 1,446 | 1,299 | 21.5% | 0.7 pts |
| Skilled trades & production | 1,030 | 939 | 15.3% | 0.3 pts |
| Other | 393 | 405 | 5.8% | -0.6 pts |
| Internships & co-ops | 230 | 203 | 3.4% | 0.2 pts |
| Mission & flight operations | 15 | 11 | 0.2% | 0.0 pts |
Live listings on the employers' own boards, counted daily by this site; a 35-day window that differs from the award month above. Hiring and award reporting run on different clocks, so treat side-by-side reads as context rather than cause.
Earlier months
- June 2026: $174.1M across 63 awards.
- May 2026: $566.2M across 75 awards. Federal contract awards in four space-relevant NAICS codes totaled $566.2M across 75 awards in May 2026, with five awards holding most of the money.
- April 2026: $5.9B across 92 awards. April 2026 recorded 92 contract awards worth $5.9B in four space-relevant NAICS codes, with a single Lockheed Martin PAC-3 production award accounting for 81% of the total.
- March 2026: $244.9M across 104 awards. March 2026 brought 104 contract awards worth $244.9M across four space-relevant NAICS codes, with a single Northrop Grumman target vehicle award accounting for 52% of the total.
- February 2026: $17.7M across 59 awards. February 2026 recorded 59 federal contract awards worth $17.7M across four space-relevant NAICS codes, and two NASA awards accounted for most of that total.
The figures on this page are computed deterministically from the records they cite. The written themes are drafted by claude-opus-5 from those figures and nothing else, then checked: any paragraph containing a number or name the figures do not hold is dropped.