#Ones2Watch

Who they are

Space ISAC launched in 2019 as a nonprofit information sharing and analysis center for the space industry. From its home base in Colorado Springs, also home of Space Symposium, it has grown its threat-sharing network into Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Australia hosts its first international watch center, and the Canada Global Hub, opened in April 2026, moves the organization closer to its vision of a globally integrated Watch Center.

Why they matter

Space is no longer out there. It runs through GPS, bank transfers, phone calls, and national security, and the threats against it are growing fast. Space ISAC gives the industry a trusted place to compare notes, and its Watch Center, open since 2023, monitors threats to space systems in real time.

What sets them apart

Space ISAC brings organizations that rarely share a table into the same conversation. Recent collaborations include:

• A partnership with NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program
• An agreement with NATO's Space Theatre Component
• A quantum community launched with MITRE
• A space governance working group with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Indiana University

Why it matters to the DIB

More of the defense industrial base's growth is moving into orbit and onto the ground systems that keep it running. Collective defense like the kind Space ISAC organizes matters more every day.

Who they are

Northwood Space is led by co-founder and CEO Bridgit Mendler, whose path to space runs from the Disney Channel through MIT and Harvard Law. She co-founded the company with CTO Griffin Cleverly, a Lockheed Martin and MITRE alum, and engineer Shaurya Luthra to take on what she calls "a gnarly problem," the ground side of space.

The company's new 185,000-square-foot headquarters and factory in Torrance, California, is set to begin production in October 2026.

Why they matter

Every satellite needs a ground station to send its data home, and ground infrastructure has not kept pace with the number of spacecraft going up. Northwood mass-produces phased-array ground stations, called Portals, that can be fielded quickly. In a demo with Planet Labs, Northwood says its system cost 10x less than existing phased-array technology and was ready 5x faster.

The U.S. Space Force awarded Northwood $49.8M to help upgrade its Satellite Control Network, which tracks and controls GPS satellites and has been short on capacity since 2011, according to a 2023 GAO report.

What sets them apart

Northwood is rethinking the ground layer so it works more like the cloud, providing hardware, software, and a network whenever a mission needs it so operators do not have to build their own from scratch. The company is also scaling quickly with:

• A new Prism antenna
• A $100M Series B led by Washington Harbour Partners and co-led by Andreessen Horowitz
• A Torrance factory expected to add 400 jobs over the next three years

Why it matters to the DIB

Ground capacity has long been a bottleneck, including for the Space Force's own satellite network. Ground stations that are faster and less expensive to field help close that gap for defense and commercial missions alike.

Who they are

Quindar is a space software company that gives operators a holistic operating picture across spacecraft, payloads, and ground systems. It was founded in 2022 by six engineers who met at OneWeb, where they helped build a satellite constellation operating platform, so they know firsthand how messy ground operations can get.

In November 2025, Quindar raised an $18M Series A led by Washington Harbour Partners, the same firm that led Northwood Space's Series B.

Why they matter

From commercial constellations to national security missions, Quindar makes mission operations faster, smarter, and far more automated. Its national security focus stands out, and the company is standing up a classified mission operations center in the Denver area.

What sets them apart

Speed is what sets Quindar apart. A new government ground system can take more than a decade to field, but Quindar can bring a common operating picture online in days.

Quantum Space selected Quindar to support its Scout and Ranger missions, helping those teams move quickly without building a custom ground system.

Why it matters to the DIB

The ground segment is one of the most overlooked pieces of space security. Quindar's approach helps defense missions get operational in days instead of waiting years on a custom build.

Who they are

Sphinx Defense is a team of engineers who got fed up with outdated, insecure technology and set out to challenge the status quo. Based in Colorado Springs, the company builds software that makes satellite operations and ground data transport simpler, faster, and more secure for government and commercial teams.

Sphinx was co-founded by CEO Hunter Price, who previously led the United States Digital Service, and VP of Engineering Sebastien Diebler, who was the first employee at cybersecurity company Qualys and helped build its engineering team through IPO.

Why they matter

Mission success starts on the ground, and Sphinx's work delivers more secure communications for national security missions. Space Systems Command selected Sphinx for a $9.5M award to build a Joint Antenna Marketplace prototype that connects satellite operations centers with government and commercial antennas.

Sphinx also holds a spot on the Space Force's R2C2 ground systems contract, which has a potential value of $1 billion.

What sets them apart

The U.S. Space Force trusts Sphinx with some of its most sensitive work. In July 2026, Sphinx won a $287M agreement to build the mission planning application for the Evolved Strategic SATCOM ground segment, which will help keep communications secure and resilient for the President and national leaders.

Its day-to-day work covers:

• Antenna contact scheduling
• Satellite command and control
• Strategic SATCOM mission planning

Why it matters to the DIB

Replacing legacy technology is complicated, unglamorous work, and it is what keeps critical satellite links secure and connected. Sphinx chose to take on the grunt work of replacing aging systems instead of working around them, and that follow-through is exactly what national security missions need.

Who they are

Muon Space designs, builds, launches, and operates entire satellite constellations for defense, civil, and commercial customers. The company calls this model the Mission Foundry, and it delivers a complete constellation in months where the process used to take years.

Led by co-founder Jonny Dyer, Muon closed a $250M Series C in August 2026 and is ramping up a San Jose factory built to produce up to 500 satellites a year by 2027.

Why they matter

FireSat, the wildfire detection constellation Muon built with Earth Fire Alliance and Google, was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2025.

As of October 2026, Muon has put 11 satellites in orbit across six launches without a single mission failure, and seven of those satellites launched in 2026 alone. Another 13 are booked to launch within the next year.

What sets them apart

Muon delivers a complete, working constellation and manages every stage of the mission, including:

• Design and manufacturing
• Launch
• Daily operations in orbit
• Processing the data the satellites send back to Earth

Muon also brought propulsion in house by acquiring Starlight Engines, and in September 2026 it fired the first zinc-fueled Hall-effect thruster in space.

Why it matters to the DIB

Muon is starting to win missile warning and tracking work. More national security missions on more satellites means more systems to protect, both in orbit and on the ground, and Muon has taken ownership of every piece of the mission.

Who they are

Starfish Space, based just outside Seattle, builds spacecraft that fly up to other satellites, dock with them, and extend their life, move them, or safely retire them. Austin Link and Trevor Bennett co-founded the company in 2019 after working as flight sciences engineers at Blue Origin, with the goal of making satellite servicing affordable enough to become routine. Starfish works with NASA, the U.S. Space Force, and commercial satellite operators.

Its Otter spacecraft, about the size of a kitchen oven, launched from Vandenberg on SpaceX's Transporter-18 mission alongside 129 other payloads. A little over an hour after liftoff, Otter separated from the rocket and powered up for orbital operations.

Why they matter

Starfish holds the first-ever end-of-life disposal contract for a low Earth orbit constellation, a $52.5M award from the Space Development Agency. Its $54.5M Space Force contract was also the only APFIT award to a space company in its cycle. APFIT is a Department of War program that moves proven technology into operations.

Otter has a full lineup of missions ahead:

• A NASA mission to inspect a series of inoperable satellites
• Disposal work for the Space Development Agency
• Two Space Force servicing missions
• Two commercial missions in geostationary orbit

What sets them apart

Otter runs only on electric propulsion and can latch onto satellites that have no docking hardware. Its capture device just needs a plain flat surface to grab. Docking missions have traditionally relied on heavy chemical propulsion, so Starfish built its own guidance software to dock using lighter, more efficient electric thrusters.

Starfish says this makes Otter 10x smaller and far less expensive than the alternatives. One Otter can also visit several satellites on a single mission, working more like a service truck than a single tow.

Why it matters to the DIB

The Space Force has already purchased two Otters to help move its most important satellites in geostationary orbit, with more on the way, and Starfish is the first company to land a contract for safely retiring satellites from a military constellation. Keeping national security satellites in service, in position, and safely retired is work the defense mission depends on.

Who they are

Neros Technologies is a Torrance, California, drone maker founded in 2023 with an ambitious mission to bring drone manufacturing back to American soil. Unmanned systems are changing the character of warfare, and the founders saw that the United States and its allies had fallen dramatically behind their adversaries in both performance and production. So they built a company where the ability to scale is designed into every drone from day one.

CEO Soren Monroe-Anderson, a former world champion drone racer and Thiel Fellow, co-founded Neros with CTO Olaf Hichwa, who designed custom circuit boards for racing drones. The two met at a drone racing competition in 2017 and decided to start Neros after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Why they matter

In July 2026, the U.S. Army awarded Neros a $500M contract to supply its Archer FPV drones under the Purpose Built Attritable System (PBAS) program. In August 2026, Neros raised a $250M Series C at a $2.5B valuation, co-led by Sequoia Capital and the American Strategic Technology Fund.

Neros already holds contracts with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, every component of SOCOM, and half a dozen allied countries.

What sets them apart

Neros stands out for how it delivers. The Pentagon's Drone Dominance program tests whether commercial companies can build high-performance, low-cost drones and whether they can produce them in massive quantities on short notice. Neros has excelled on both counts:

• Placed second in Gauntlet I and was the first company to deliver its full order
• Earned multiple bonus orders for delivery speed, the only manufacturer to do so
• Took first in Close Quarters Battle and third in Deep Strike in Gauntlet II
• Landed an order for 14,000 drones and explosive payloads valued at more than $100M, the largest order of Gauntlet II

Why it matters to the DIB

A secure, domestic defense supply chain is something Sentinel Blue champions. Neros engineers at the speed of modern conflict, keeps production in the United States, and keeps turning contract wins into drones in warfighters' hands, which is exactly the kind of execution the defense industrial base needs.

Who they are

The brain inside many of America's newest military drones weighs about as much as three nickels. It is an autopilot made by ModalAI, a San Diego company whose technology lets small drones and ground robots see, steer, and navigate inside buildings, tunnels, and other places GPS cannot reach. ModalAI also sells ready-to-fly development drones so other builders can test their ideas without starting from scratch.

ModalAI spun out of Qualcomm in 2018. Co-founder and CEO Chad Sweet spent 20 years at Qualcomm, where he led robotics R&D, earned 15 patents, and was behind Snapdragon Flight, the platform that powered NASA's first drone on Mars.

Why they matter

ModalAI built the first Blue UAS Framework autopilot, and its VOXL products have been the core autopilot for two generations of the Defense Innovation Unit's Blue UAS Framework program. VOXL 2 alone has been integrated into more than 300 drone designs.

Its drones are hand built in the U.S. without parts from countries the Pentagon has banned, which helps strengthen the domestic drone supply chain.

What sets them apart

ModalAI's autonomy keeps working when GPS and communications go down, so a jammed signal does not mean a lost drone. Its results in the Pentagon's Drone Dominance Program show it:

• Earned a Gauntlet I order for 2,240 drones earlier in 2026
• Finished top five in Close Quarters Battle in Gauntlet II
• Earned a Gauntlet II order for 4,000 more drones
• Kept flying through night missions and tight urban courses during the competitions

Why it matters to the DIB

ModalAI builds the foundation other innovators stand on. Its hardware sits inside hundreds of other companies' drones and is intentionally small, lightweight, and open so others can build on it. A commitment to trusted, U.S.-built components at that level ripples across the entire unmanned ecosystem, and supply chain security is an issue Sentinel Blue thinks about every day.

Who they are

Many drone defenses can only spot a threat, not stop it. Utah-based Fortem Technologies closes that gap by finding hostile drones, tracking them, and safely taking them out of the sky, all with technology it builds in house. Instead of destroying a threat over a crowded base or a public space like a stadium, Fortem can capture it and bring it down with minimal collateral damage.

Fortem's leadership team includes co-founder and CTO Adam Robertson, co-founder and COO Timothy Bean, and CEO Jon Gruen.

Why they matter

Drones are a growing risk to military installations at home and abroad, and to the critical infrastructure the defense industrial base depends on. Investors have taken notice. Lockheed Martin invested $25M in Fortem in April 2026, and the company recently closed an oversubscribed $50M Series B.

What sets them apart

A growing number of agencies are bringing Fortem on board, including:

• A three-year, $18M U.S. Army contract, awarded in February 2026, to deploy its interceptors and provide field support at Army sites worldwide
• A Department of Homeland Security selection, also in February 2026, to help protect 2026 FIFA World Cup venues
• A prime spot on a DHS counter-UAS contract with a ceiling of more than $1B, awarded in August 2026, as the only small business selected

Why it matters to the DIB

Taking down a drone is one thing, but doing it safely over a crowded arena or an active base is another. Fortem thinks about consequences as much as capabilities, and that focus on protecting people makes its technology a strong fit for the installations and facilities the defense industrial base relies on.

Who they are

Before soldiers can defend against enemy aircraft, they need something realistic to train against, and for more than two decades Griffon Aerospace has been building it. The Alabama-based company designs, builds, and flies unmanned aircraft, including aerial targets and low-cost attack drones, for the U.S. military and allied nations.

Griffon got its start in 1995, when founder and CEO Larry French built a vintage-inspired, six-seat kit aircraft. Since then, the company has designed, built, and flown thousands of unmanned aircraft for the U.S. Department of War, allied nations, and research labs.

Why they matter

Griffon was in the drone business long before it was trendy, and its target systems have supported the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force since 2004.

The work keeps coming. In June 2026, the Pentagon awarded Griffon a $68M contract for its Outlaw Gen 3 fixed-wing drones, and in August 2026 the U.S. Army doubled down on the Outlaw line with a contract worth nearly $133M.

What sets them apart

Griffon moved quickly from training targets into attack drones, and its results in the Department of War's Drone Dominance Program show it:

• Selected in February 2026 as one of 25 companies for the program's first round
• Finished among the top 11 companies that earned delivery orders
• Made the cut again as one of 19 companies in the second round, where each had to deliver 120 drones in about five weeks

Why it matters to the DIB

Longevity in the defense industrial base comes from doing unglamorous work well, year after year. Griffon describes itself as a "lion-hearted partner" to the military, and this small team keeps giving service members an advantage while building toward what comes next.

Who they are

Some of the most dangerous jobs on the battlefield come down to driving, moving supplies, weapons, and equipment through risky, contested terrain. Forterra, based in Clarksburg, Maryland, is taking the driver out of those vehicles. Its autonomy hardware and software can be added to vehicles the military already owns, so they can navigate rough, off-road, and GPS-denied environments on their own.

Founder and president Alberto Lacaze, who holds more than 100 robotics patents, started the company in 2002 as Robotic Research and led development of the Department of War's first fully autonomous convoy vehicles. CEO Josh Araujo, a former Marine, stepped into the role in 2024. The name Forterra blends "for" with "terra," Latin for earth or solid ground.

Why they matter

Forterra has been building military autonomy for more than 20 years, and fewer people in harm's way means a stronger, safer force.

In just six months, Forterra built and sent 105 autonomous Lancer vehicles to Ukraine. As of October 2026, those vehicles have run more than 1,100 missions, including 52 casualty evacuations.

What sets them apart

Forterra's self-driving technology is already in the field with U.S. troops:

• AutoDrive was the first system the U.S. military fielded that lets ground vehicles maneuver on their own
• In June 2026, Forterra and prime contractor Oshkosh Defense secured a $92M U.S. Marine Corps award to deliver self-driving launch vehicles for the Corps' ship-killing missile system
• That award is the military's first large-scale production contract for ground vehicle autonomy

Why it matters to the DIB

Forterra kept its head down and worked through two decades of hard engineering before the rest of the world caught on. That persistence turned autonomy into something warfighters rely on every day, and it is the kind of long-haul commitment the defense industrial base is built on.

Who they are

Shift5 describes itself as the operational intelligence platform for America's defense and transportation systems. Vehicles, aircraft, ships, and trains constantly generate data from their onboard systems, and Shift5 captures that data and turns it into real-time insights for maintenance and threat detection.

The company was founded in 2019 by former Army cyber officers who helped stand up U.S. Army Cyber Command and pioneered modern weapon system cyber assessments. Shift5 returns to #Ones2Watch after appearing on our Spring 2025, Fall 2025, and Spring 2026 lists.

Why they matter

Shift5 started with cybersecurity and has since added predictive maintenance and GPS integrity monitoring. It is also growing fast. In 2025, the company more than doubled its vehicle deployments and closed a $75M Series C led by Hedosophia.

What sets them apart

Shift5's intelligence reaches the field quickly. The company is a key partner on Anduril's team for the Army's Next Generation Command and Control effort, where its platform pulls vehicle health data to give commanders real-time visibility into readiness and sustainment.

Shift5 integrated in just two months, in time for the 4th Infantry Division to use it during the Ivy Sting 4 exercise.

Why it matters to the DIB

Military vehicles and aircraft produce a constant stream of data, and adversaries already target those systems with GPS spoofing and cyberattacks. Sentinel Blue spends a lot of time thinking about where defense data lives and who is watching it, and Shift5 puts that data in the hands of the people who maintain and defend those platforms.