DoD ups commercial satellite internet services program to $13B, SpaceNews says

The Defense Department is increasing its projected spending on low Earth orbit, or LEO, satellite internet services more than tenfold, responding to surging demand from across the military, SpaceNews’ Sandra Erwin reports. The military’s Proliferated Low Earth Orbit, or PLEO, Satellite-Based Services program, launched just last year with a $900M ceiling, has been expanded to $13B by the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Space Systems Command, a spokesperson confirmed. Publicly traded companies in the space include Viasat (VSAT), Iridium (IRDM), EchoStar (SATS), Gilat Satellite (GILT), and Globalstar (GSAT).