Funding for SDA’s next missile tracking contracts diverted to troop payments: Sources
"When the funding will be authorized, given the shutdown and all the fun there, is a question mark," one industry source told Breaking Defense.
"When the funding will be authorized, given the shutdown and all the fun there, is a question mark," one industry source told Breaking Defense.
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.
CDAO’s Advana data analytics platform is ingesting data from about 500 DoD business systems.
"Space Systems Command intends to award a second vendor, but the quantity will depend on the selected vendor’s proposal. The timing and scope of that award is subject to the outcomes of the on-going FY26 budget deliberations," Col. Rob Davis, SSC's head of Space Sensing program, told Breaking Defense.
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.
"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.
The Space Development Agency "has taken steps to develop laser communications technology but has not yet fully demonstrated it in space," finds a report released today by the Government Accountability Office.
This year saw evidence that a shift toward more openness about US national security space activities is coming whether those deep in the "black world" are ready or not.
"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.
Col. Robert Davis, program executive officer for SSC's Space Sensing Directorate, told the National Security Space Association today that the SWAC study might affect how follow-on satellites are designed and, perhaps, hardened to radiation.
The new office, led by Claire Leon, will work to integrate acquisition programs across Space Systems Command, the Space Development Agency and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, Breaking Defense has learned.
"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.
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.
While GEOST has made infrared sensors for classified systems in the ones and twos, the new contract will involve building infrared sensors designed to be used in a larger constellation, LightRidge CEO Bill Gattle told Breaking Defense.