The Department of Defense awarded 10 different defense contracts in its Thursday evening announcement of contract awards. The total value of contracts awarded was $629 million.

The day's biggest award, accounting for more than three-quarters of the funds on offer, will be split among several recipients. The firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract could be worth as much as $494.9 million in total value, and was issued under the Hosted Payload Solutions (HoPS) program. It will permit each of the awardees to bid to "host" U.S. Air Force equipment aboard their own commercial satellites in orbit, support data transfers from said satellites to Earth, and perform other activities in space and on Earth to facilitate this work. This contract runs through Jan. 31, 2029, and its awardees include:

  • Airbus (EADSY 0.30%) subsidiaries Astrium and Surrey Satellite Technology 
  • Alliant TechSystems (NYSE: ATK) subsidiary ViviSat, LLC
  • Boeing (BA -1.02%)
  • Harris Corp. (LHX 0.30%)
  • Intelsat (INTE.Q)
  • Lockheed Martin (LMT 0.59%)
  • Orbital Sciences (OA)
  • six other, non-U.S. listed companies

Separately, CACI (CACI -0.79%) was awarded a $9.4 million contract modification to provide systems development support services to the Military Sealift Command's Command, Control, Communications, and Computer Systems directorate through July 2015. And Triumph Group (TGI 0.59%) won a $9.6 million five-year contract to repair gearbox accessories aboard F/A-18 fighter jets for the U.S. Navy through July 2020.