Introducing The Next Generation Players of Space & Defense Coverage Launch

Research evidence excerpt

Introducing The Next Generation Players of Space & Defense Coverage Launch

Industry Note

June 30, 2026 Defense, Space & Strategic Materials

Introducing The Next Generation Players of Space & DefenseAnalysts

Sam Brandeis Coverage Launch

(212) 222-3005

sam.brandeis@wedbush.com

Dan Ives We believe the market is in the early innings of recognizing that a generational(212) 344-2073

Dan.Ives@wedbush.com reorientation of how the United States builds, fields, and operates military and

space technology is now underway, pivoting away from the slow, cost-plus, decade-

long acquisition cycles that defined the post-Cold War prime contractor era and

towards a warfighting and space model anchored by autonomy, proliferated low-

Earth-orbit constellations, commercial launch, missile defense, hypersonics, and

a rebuilt industrial base. The companies that win this transition look structurally

different from the legacy primes, built around software-native cost structures

and fixed-price, commercial-style contracting, and we believe they are positioned

to capture a disproportionate share of the FY26-to-FY30 procurement and

commercial dollars migrating into the new generation of programs.

The space economy sits at the center of this shift, and it has changed character

entirely over the past decade. What was a government-launch and government-

imagery market is now a commercially driven build-out, where reusable launch

has collapsed the cost of reaching orbit, proliferated LEO has displaced legacy

geostationary systems, and Earth observation is migrating from selling imagery

toward selling decisions. The global space economy is on track to scale from ~$630

billion today toward ~$1.8 trillion by 2035, with launch, broadband connectivity,