SpaceX wins a contract to build missile-tracking satellites for the US military.

SpaceX is now in the business of building satellites that do more than transmit broadband around the world. Elon Musk’s space company is one of two that was awarded a contract from the Space Development Agency (part of the US Department of Defense) to build four satellites each that can track missile threats from the low earth orbit.

SpaceX will receive more than $ 149 million for the work, while main defense contractor L3 Harris will receive more than $ 193 million, SDA announced Monday.

The satellites will be built around an infrared sensor with a wide field of view that can track even hypersonic missiles. The SpaceX satellite will be based on the innards of the Starlink satellite, but the sensor will come from another provider, Space Development Agency director Derek Tournear told SpaceNews.

L3 Harris will produce the complete satellites, including the sensor, in-house.

SpaceX has already launched several hundred Starlink satellites on track to eventually churn out tens of thousands if its broadband mega-constellation is to meet the company’s full ambitions.

The eight satellites will be part of the first generation of what the SDA calls “the tracking layer” and should be designed to interact with the “transport layer” satellites being developed by Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems. The transport layer satellites communicate with the tracking layer satellites and route the information they collect to where it is needed on Earth.

The companies will be required to deliver the satellites by September 2022, and if all goes well, the US military could order up to 30 more tracking satellites to add to the system in the next few years.