The new Stage III contracts are expected by industry officials to be the last of the short term, relatively small dollar awards under the SCC BAA — with senior NRO officials pushing to create a longer term program of record in the fiscal 2026 budget.
By Theresa HitchensTake lessons learned from joint exercises and turn them into capabilities
The real advantage comes when legacy, new, next generation and cutting-edge systems can work together in the battlespace.
“[W]e won’t be able to sell the premium technology, which means we’ll be out competed by [Finland’s] ICEYE and other competitors in the global market,” Umbra’s Jason Mallare told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens
The changes included, among other things, the removal some restrictions on non-Earth imaging and rapid revsits of ground targets, NOAA explained, “and most notably,” a removal of all of the restrictions imposed in 2020 on X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
By Theresa Hitchens Todd Master, Umbra’s chief operating officer and a former DARPA official, told Breaking Defense on May 22 that DRIFT “is a legitimately great example of how government can actually advance capability using commercial investments instead of just saying ‘leverage commercial’ over and over.”
By Theresa Hitchens
Under the deal, Maxar will be able to expand its SAR data offerings to international customers, and Umbra will get global eyes on its products, company officials told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens
“Since the 2019 award of an integration study contract for commercial RF, we’ve seen increasing demand for this data source from across the user community,” said Chris Scolese, director of the NRO.
By Theresa Hitchens
The markup also calls for a comprehensive report on how DoD plans to leverage ISR data from commercial radio frequency (RF) satellites, noting that lawmakers have been “encouraged” by the successful use of RF geolocation in exercises, including by European Command.
By Theresa Hitchens
For artificial intelligence to be mission-critical, it must hallucinate less
By fact checking the AI through a new verification process for Large Language Models, it’s possible to reduce hallucinations from 5-10 percent to as low as 0.1 percent.
Payam Banazadeh, CEO of Capella Space, told Breaking Defense that the Ukraine war has been a “critical place for the industry to show itself,” but NRO says it isn’t accelerating the SAR acquisition process.
By Theresa Hitchens
“We’ve been talking about the fact that space is contested, and we’re probably right in the middle now of our first space fight,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein.
By Theresa Hitchens
Later in the contracting process, NRO potentially will “have the wherewithal to purchase ad hoc imagery, data products and the like,” said Pete Muend, director of the spy agency’s Commercial Systems Program Office.
By Theresa Hitchens
“I’d call it a VERY minor slow toe dip,” said one stunned company rep, trying to find polite words.
By Theresa Hitchens
The new policy is inconsistent with efforts by DoD and NGA to expand the trusted supplier base by better integrating allied firms into their acquisition chains, critics say.
By Theresa Hitchens
The company plans at least 24 satellites, each with a patented SAR antenna that folds up “like origami” for launch and unfurls on orbit, says Umbra COO Todd Master.
By Theresa Hitchens
