Gen. Chance Saltzman, Space Force chief, said the work already done to design a satellite system for tracking ground targets should also help speed AMTI capabilities to orbit.
Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber and nuclear, also said the service expects to complete an analysis of alternatives by this fall for a separate but related effort to track airborne targets from the heavens.
As missions stretch farther and comms grow less reliable, predictive software could become the edge that keeps missions afloat.
Under the Science and Technology Applied RF Systems program, estimated to cost a total of nearly $95 million over six years, AFRL is looking to award up to three indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts.
Production of an E-7A Wedgetail aircraft has also slipped by a year, according to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.
With apparent frustration with another program, Space Force acquisition chief Frank Calvelli asked, “What I don't get… [is] why would somebody want to have this sort of reputation-ruining stain in the papers all the time?”
"We are clearly moving away from airborne ISR assets and moving into space. It's the absolute right thing to do from a resiliency and sustainability perspective," Air Force space acquisition czar Frank Calvelli said.
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"This is a new type of capability. It's not completely the Intelligence Community supporting the [Defense Department]. It's not completely a DoD mission without the help of the Intelligence Community. It's this combination of the two," said CSO Gen. Chance Saltzman.
"The good news about this approach is this really fits my priority of speed, speed and speed," Frank Calvelli, space acquisition czar at the Department of the Air Force, said of the plan to have NRO take the lead with Space Force oversight and some funding.
The Space Force is "working with the Air Force and the Intelligence Community (IC) in a complementary way to design, develop, and deploy space-based GMTI systems," the service's FY24 budget documents explain.
After an analysis of literally thousands of options, Space Force's Gen. DT Thompson said, "in the end [there was] a consensus opinion inside the Department of Defense and the [Intelligence Community] on how we should proceed."
Lockheed Martin’s ACES platform delivers a shared virtual battlespace that strengthens readiness, interoperability, and faster decision-making through advanced, integrated modeling and simulation capabilities designed for evolving global threats.
The Space Force is "working with all the other services and combat commanders to determine what are their requirements for ISR that we can then work with our partners in the Intelligence Community to figure out how best to satisfy those requirements," CSO Gen. Jay Raymond said.
Amid lawmaker concerns about turf tussles, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and NRO Director Chris Scoloese have an "informal agreement" to "work cooperatively to address DoD's ISR needs from space."
According to two sources with knowledge of the matter, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall had tasked the service’s budget corps to consider cancelling the F-15EX. Instead, it will receive a plus-up in the FY23 request.
Until a program-by-program review is provided by the Defense Department, the armed services committees would limit spending on each one to no more than than 75% of its planned annual budget.