Lockheed Martin, Rocket Lab USA, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris Technologies each won awards to "deliver and operate 18 space vehicles" for the Space Development Agency's Tranche 3 Tracking Layer.
"When the funding will be authorized, given the shutdown and all the fun there, is a question mark," one industry source told Breaking Defense.
Why edge and endpoint security can’t be an afterthought.
Protecting warfighters requires fast, accurate, and dependable systems that work flawlessly to military standards.
The move is part of a long-running effort by Space Systems Command to reorganize acquisition programs along mission area lines, syncing up with the structure of the service's main operational arm, Space Operations Command.
Program officials overseeing the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) effort told GAO investigators that the delay was caused not only by developmental problems, but also the Space Force's launch backlog.
Space Systems Command (SSC) in recent weeks has issued a flurry of contracts for the key hardware and software "thrusts" that make up the FORGE program, following a restructuring in 2023 that broke the effort into more manageable pieces.
The network transport architecture for NGC2 could be a hybrid approach that combines high assurance communications with 5G, WiFi, and multi-orbit satellites.
"Unfortunately, we were, we were slowed down a bit by uncertainty in our budget," said SSC's Col. Rob Davis, delaying awards for Epoch 2 of the Resilient Missile Warning/Missile Tracking — MEO program by about three months.
"When one of our two industry partners struggled with delivering on cost and schedule, we were able to quickly pivot and still maintain program progress by turning to the performing vendor," Col. Rob Davis, program executive officer for SSC's Space Sensing Directorate, said.
Tournear said that the optical intersatellite link demonstration was final success in a trifecta of baseline challenges to SDA's plan to network hundreds of military satellites in LEO, as well as to eventually to integrate commercial satellites into the mix.
"This was done because the RTX Epoch 1 development effort was facing significant cost growth from the original agreement baseline, projecting slips to the launch schedule, and had unresolved design challenges," a Space Systems Command spokesperson told Breaking Defense.
The GPS network continues to prove its unmatched reliability, and it’s only getting stronger.
"In the next few months, you can look for missile warning and space domain awareness as two mission areas [to be restructured], and then in the future satellite communications, for example, and then orbital warfare," Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of Space Systems Command, told the Mitchell Institute today.
With programs like MTC, Millennium Space Systems is redefining what it means to be an operational prime – rapidly delivering operational small sat constellations on rapid timelines.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall explained that the "small decrease in the number for the Space Force" isn't itself quite reflective of reality, as there are mitigating circumstances that lessen the blow.
"This is not only new; it's astounding. It's shocking. It's a huge change (if adopted)," one industry contractor told Breaking Defense of the proposal.