The Pentagon is putting $13 billion behind its talk of embracing commercial space, committing serious money to low-Earth orbit satellite services.

This marks a dramatic increase in spending on commercial satellite services, with the so-called PLEO (Proliferated Low Earth Orbit) contract jumping from $900 million to $13 billion over a decade. Unlike the military’s typical procurement approach, the PLEO contract gives vendors greater flexibility to tailor services to customer needs rather than following rigid government specifications.

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Sandra Erwin writes about military space programs, policy, technology and the industry that supports this sector. She has covered the military, the Pentagon, Congress and the defense industry for nearly two decades as editor of NDIA’s National Defense...