Commercial imagery has proven invaluable in the Ukraine conflict, both to the US government’s information war against Russia and to the Ukrainian military.
By Theresa HitchensBAE Systems’ LR-PGK: The Superior Anti-Jam Solution
Going the distance to defeat emerging jam threats.
“We’re talking to a lot of different organizations in the government — Space Force, the Army, the Air Force — many that are looking at how you could leverage commercial technologies and tactical ISR,” BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens 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
Pete Muend, director of the NRO Commercial Systems Program Office, told the USGIF GEOINT 2022 conference that RF tracking for Ukraine has been “great benefit,” and spy agency wants to expand the capability.
By Theresa Hitchens
“There is no 911 … for us to call to get help,” said J.R. Riordan, chief revenue officer at BlackSky.
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
NRO use of shutter control on commercial electro-optical imagery would be “very rare,” and “limited in both area and time,” said Peter Muend, head of the spy agency’s commercial office.
By Theresa Hitchens
New Army mounted system won’t play favorites when it comes to C5ISR, EW and A-PNT
The CMOSS Mounted Form Factor will facilitate tech insertion for new capabilities while co-existing with the Mounted Family of Computer Systems.
“Unfortunately, some of the Army’s signature modernization efforts, as spectacular as they are, don’t work with the other signature modernization efforts,” said Ed Mornston, G2 at Army Futures Command.
By Theresa Hitchens
The ability to directly access remote sensing satellite data for targeting has long been a Holy Grail for the Army.
By Theresa Hitchens
“We really view ourselves, not as a space company, not as a satellite company, but as a geospatial intelligence company,” says BlackSky’s Chief Technical Officer Peter Wegner.
By Theresa Hitchens
Space Force is not a voting member of the new(ish) IC Commercial Space Council to improve coordination on commercial space policy — but NRO and NGA are.
By Theresa Hitchens
The plan for multiple contracts represents a sea-change from past Intelligence Community practice in buying commercial satellite imagery.
By Theresa Hitchens
NGA’s Global EGD program is a good example of how the 2017 bifurcation of authority over commercial remote sensing acquisition between the NGA and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) — a transition that remains somewhat troubled –is supposed to work.
By Theresa Hitchens
NGA and NRO “have significantly overlapping Venn diagrams,” one industry source said, and they are still trying to “sort that through.” He added, “It’s not a nice clean line.”
By Theresa Hitchens
