AST SpaceMobile Inc. saw its stock price reach a new all-time high during Friday's trading session. The surge followed an announcement that the Missile Defense Agency had selected the company as a prime contract service provider.
In intra-day trading, shares of AST SpaceMobile, trading under NASDAQ:ASTS, climbed to $120.80. The stock pared some gains later, closing the session at $115.77 per share, an increase of 14.34 percent.
The company issued a statement on Friday. It said that as an MDA prime contractor, it will support the agency's Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, program. This involves future task orders across research, development, engineering, prototyping, and operations.
Chief Commercial Officer Chris Ivory commented on the selection. "Being selected as a prime contract awardee for the MDA's SHIELD program is a major validation of our unique, on-orbit, dual-use technology and our growing capabilities within the defense sector," Ivory said.
He added further remarks. "Our innovative low-Earth orbit satellite architecture, featuring the largest commercial phased arrays ever deployed in low Earth orbit, is inherently scalable and resilient. This SHIELD IDIQ contract establishes AST SpaceMobile as an eligible provider to bid directly on future task orders, enabling us to rapidly align our cutting-edge space technology with the critical needs of the Department of War and other US Government entities," Ivory stated.