Maxar wins more work on Army’s One World Terrain virtual training tool

WASHINGTON — Geospatial intelligence specialist Maxar Technologies will keep developing immersive training and simulation software under terms of a newly announced U.S. Army contract.

Maxar on Feb. 27 said it was selected for an additional phase of prototype work on One World Terrain, or OWT, which compiles realistic and, in some cases, extremely accurate virtual maps of territory across the globe for military purposes.

A spokesperson told C4ISRNET the company can’t share the exact value of the deal “right now,” but said the latest phase “is worth tens of millions for a one-year” period of performance. Three phases of the OWT prototype project were previously said to be worth nearly $95 million.

The original OWT contract was awarded in 2019 to Vricon. Maxar acquired the data and analytics firm in 2020 for $140 million.

OWT is considered a critical component of the Army’s Synthetic Training Environment, or STE, which is meant to provide soldiers complex training arenas that closely reflect real-life conditions near and far.

In the latest phase of work, dubbed 3b, Maxar will “focus on enhanced conflation with open-source geospatial data and enhanced training areas using multisource collection, high-resolution insets,” according to a company statement. In a previous phase, 3a, the company focused on improving 3D terrain fidelity and refining automation processes, among other tasks.

Maxar wins contract to provide satellite imagery to US allies

“The evolution of OWT shows how 3D terrain and information services are becoming essential tools for planning and decision-making, not just for the U.S. Army, but for a wide range of military, civil and commercial institutions,” Tony Frazier, a Maxar executive vice president and general manager, said in a statement.

OWT was used on a small scale at the Army’s Project Convergence in 2020, Defense News reported, and was employed by more than a dozen systems at the same networking experiment in 2021.

Frazier described OWT as on track to becoming “the Army’s authoritative source for foundation geospatial content and terrain data — from training to operations and targeting.”

Maxar Technologies is the No. 78 largest defense company in the world when ranked by revenue, according to Defense News analysis.

Jen Judson contributed to this article.

Space Force wants launch ranges to be more resilient

ORLANDO — As the U.S. Space Force takes steps to make its satellites more resilient against an enemy attack or a mishap in space, the service’s launch enterprise is making similar moves on the ground.

Col. Mark Shoemaker, vice commander for operations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Delta 45, said the service is “taking analytical steps” and building operational concepts to ensure its launch ranges can operate in adverse conditions, including national disasters or enemy attacks.

“Whether the degraded environment . . . is a hurricane or a powerline goes down off of our complex or there’s some other activity that goes on – by whatever means it arrives, we need to be able to operate through that,” he said Feb. 21 at the Space Force’s inaugural Space Mobility Conference in Orlando. “We can’t shut down the cape for weeks and months at a time.”

Florida’s Eastern Range, home to Cape Canaveral and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, launches civil, commercial and national security rockets. The complex is the world’s busiest launch range — and if trends hold, it will only get busier. The Space Force projects the range will support 92 launches this year, up from 57 in 2022 and 31 in 2021.

Shoemaker said that while the launch capability at the Eastern Range is secure and reliable, it’s also consolidated. To improve resiliency as launch rates increase, he said, the U.S. government must ensure that all of its spaceports offer the same level of security and reliability.

“Much like when you travel in an airport in the United States . . . you trust that the security is going to be there and you can do what you need to do, we’re going to need all of that in spades from a space access perspective,” Shoemaker said. “Those are the kinds of things we’re thinking about.”

Along with its internal work, the Space Force is also part of a National Spaceport Interagency Working Group created in 2022 to, among other tasks, develop a strategy to make U.S. spaceports more resilient and interoperable. The group also includes representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, the departments of state and commerce and NASA.

Maj. Gen. Purdy, the head of the Space Force’s launch enterprise, told C4ISRNET in a Feb. 13 email that the group expects to complete a draft of its spaceport strategy this year.

What will ChatGPT mean for the US defense-industrial base?

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence-enabled chatbot tool developed by U.S.-based AI lab OpenAI. Two months after its launch in November, it became the fastest consumer application in history to reach 100 million active users, and it has already started to have a noticeable impact in business and academia.

The extent to which ChatGPT (or its technological successors and relatives) will have an impact on national security and defense acquisitions is still unclear, as the technology has yet to replace humans in any meaningful capacity. However, based on initial use cases and reactions to the tool, ChatGPT is already creating benefits as well as risks for defense professionals.

ChatGPT, derived from a machine learning-based language model known as GPT-3.5, is considered a groundbreaking form of generative AI. This means that it is capable of interacting conversationally with users and generating detailed human-like responses to questions or prompts in a variety of text formats, proving itself a useful tool across various fields.

For example, across the health care, real estate, public relations, marketing, customer service, and media industries, some companies have started using iterations of generative AI, especially ChatGPT, for various tasks from scheduling appointments to writing articles. ChatGPT has also made headlines for passing a variety of benchmark exams, including correctly answering technical questions for an entry-level Google software engineering job and achieving passing grades on both a law school test and Wharton business school paper.

In the defense sector, both small and large companies have complaints about time-consuming regulations, but smaller businesses sometimes face more difficulties complying with Federal Acquisition Regulation standards due to their unfamiliarity with processes and procedures associated with government contracting. ChatGPT can already help alleviate this problem.

As one YouTube creator has demonstrated, the tool can be used to write the skeleton of a government contract, and while this is not a comprehensive solution, it can certainly assist founders of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB) who already firing on all cylinders to get proposals out and accepted. According to Megan VanHorn, president of Bridge4Acquisitions, ChatGPT is helpful both for drafting content and conducting reviews. She noted that without the right knowledge and experience in the government contracting world, the tool does not produce great results, but when coupled with the right expertise it is a disruptive technology that helps her save clients’ time and money on the path to securing government contracts.

The Department of Defense has also caught on to the benefits of using generative AI to speed up and simplify the federal acquisition process. This year, the DoD’s Chief Digital and AI Office announced that it is prototyping and testing an AI-powered contract-writing capability, called “Acqbot.” The tool is intended to help contracting officers write contracts and manage the contract lifecycle. Currently, the tool is still being developed and requires substantial input data and human supervision.

On the flip side of its potential benefits in the defense sector, ChatGPT also provides cybercriminals with an arsenal of potential use cases threatening the cybersecurity posture of American citizens and the federal government. It is already being used by non-state threat actors, including script kiddies, hacktivists, and scammers, to engage in various forms of cybercrime, but in the future, ChatGPT’s technology has the potential to be harnessed by nation-state actors to conduct cyberespionage, information operations, and cyberattacks to increasingly devastating effect. ChatGPT is easy to use and accessible to users with elementary cyber proficiency levels, lowering the barrier to entry for various criminal actors.

ChatGPT still has a long way to go before it can be relied upon for the most important tasks in national security or defense contracting. The information it produces is displayed confidently yet is often unreliable without further verification—ChatGPT is incapable of acknowledging potential misinformation. OpenAI’s own FAQ page notes that ChatGPT sometimes produces incorrect or biased answers, and it has limited knowledge of anything that occurred prior to 2021. Some software developers have even banned ChatGPT answers because it often generates code with substantial errors, an obstacle to individuals using ChatGPT for either good or nefarious purposes.

Given the extent of its limitations, the reality is that the current version of ChatGPT will not revolutionize national security or government contracting immediately. Nevertheless, government contractors and the DoD workforce should develop a better understanding of the pros and cons that AI and ML-based capabilities will bring to their industry in the coming years.

When chatbots get even “smarter,” defense professionals who were shrewd enough hone their awareness of advances in AI such as ChatGPT will be most poised to take advantage of the technology’s benefits and defend against its security risks.

Noah Rivers and Olivia Letts are research associates at the Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting at the George Mason University School of Business.

Have an opinion?

This article is an Op-Ed and the opinions expressed are those of the author. If you would like to respond, or have an editorial of your own you would like to submit, please email C4ISRNET and Federal Times Senior Managing Editor Cary O’Reilly.

US calls on Russia to stay with nuclear weapons treaty

GENEVA — A top U.S. arms control official on Monday sharply criticized Russia for suspending its participation in the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty, but said Washington will try to work with Moscow to continue its implementation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that the country would suspend participation in the New START treaty which obligated both Russia and the U.S. to commit to regular communications on the status of their nuclear arsenals, allow regular on-site inspections and abide by caps on the number of deployed and non-deployed warheads of each side.

“Russia is once again showing the world that it is not a responsible nuclear power,” Bonnie Jenkins, the U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control, said at a session of the Conference on Disarmament, a United Nations-affiliated international forum.

Russia is not withdrawing from the treaty, which is in force until 2026, but Putin said Russia cannot accept U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites while Washington and its NATO allies seek Russia’s defeat in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the country would respect the treaty’s caps on nuclear weapons and continue notifying the U.S. about test launches of ballistic missiles.

The inspections have been dormant since 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussions on resuming them were supposed to have taken place last November, but Russia abruptly called them off.

Jenkins later told reporters that the U.S. has not fully assessed the consequences of Russia’s suspension move, but said “we’re not seeing any evidence that Russia is in noncompliance.”

“We remain ready to work assertively with Russia to fully implement the New START treaty, continued implementation of the treaty based on the best interests of both parties,” she said.

Putin’s announcement of suspending participation came just before the first anniversary of Russia sending troops into Ukraine. Putin has repeatedly cast the conflict as necessary to combat alleged Western aims to weaken Russia and has warned of an increasing threat of nuclear war.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the national security council, said last week that “If the U.S. wants Russia’s defeat, we have the right to defend ourselves with any weapons, including nuclear.”

“Russia must end this war and must cease its irresponsible nuclear rhetoric,” Jenkins said.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna also harshly criticized Russia’s New START suspension at the Geneva conference as “added proof — if any was needed — of the dangerous impasse that Russia is sealing itself into.”

Jim Heintz reported from Moscow

Leidos taps Rolls-Royce executive Bell as next CEO

WASHINGTON — Defense contractor Leidos said its board of directors selected Thomas Bell, president of Rolls-Royce’s defense unit and chairman and chief executive of Rolls-Royce North America, to be the U.S. company’s next CEO.

Bell takes up the post May 3, Leidos said in a statement Monday. He will succeed Roger Krone, who is retiring.

“Tom’s exceptional track record in harnessing the power of technology to drive growth and innovation, with his strong leadership skills and focus on understanding the needs of the customer, has resulted in a consistent record of success and value creation in both products and services,” Robert Shapard, lead director of Leidos’ board, said in a statement Monday. “His deep understanding of many of our customers will facilitate a smooth transition.”

After Krone’s retirement, Leidos plans to split up the two roles he once had. Leidos said its board expects to appoint Shapard to be an independent, nonexecutive chair after this stockholder meeting. Krone, who has led Leidos as CEO since 2014, will stay on as an adviser through July “to facilitate a seamless leadership transition,” the company said.

Shapard thanked Krone for his work guiding the company and praised him for its growth over the years.

“Roger Krone’s impact on Leidos and its customers will be felt for years to come,” Shapard said. “Under his leadership, Leidos has achieved tremendous growth, evolved its business strategy, and made a positive difference in the lives of countless people around the world.”

Bell previously was senior vice president of global sales and marketing for defense, space and security at Boeing, and before that was president of Rolls-Royce Defence Aerospace.

Leidos was ranked the 19th largest defense firm in Defense News’ Top 100 rankings in 2022, with more than $8 billion in defense revenue in fiscal 2021. Its work includes information technology services, engineering, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and machine-learning technologies.

Leidos also acquired defense technology firm Dynetics in 2020, which now operates as a subsidiary of the bigger company working on technologies such as hypersonics, sensors and autonomous systems.

Singapore to buy eight more F-35B jets

MELBOURNE, Australia — Singapore will exercise a contractual option to acquire eight more F-35B fighter jets, bringing it fleet to 12 aircraft that manufacturer Lockheed Martin will deliver by the end of the decade.

Speaking to lawmakers during a budget hearing, Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said the decision came after a “full evaluation” of the F-35, which followed increased access to the aircraft program thanks to the country’s initial order.

That access included Republic of Singapore Air Force pilots getting the opportunity to fly F-35 mission simulators under the tutelage of operational F-35 instructor pilots, as well as conducting an evaluation of the electronic systems onboard the aircraft.

Singaporean personnel also visited overseas operators to study various aspects of F-35 sustainment, and they flew with Australia and the U.S. Marine Corps operators during a multinational air combat exercise in northern Australia.

The U.S. State Department in January 2020 approved Singapore’s request to buy four F-35Bs — the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant of the Joint Strike Fight. The approval also included an option for eight more aircraft.

The small Southeast Asian island nation has likely selected the F-35B because it can take off fully loaded with a runway of about 600 feet, and land vertically. This allows the Republic of Singapore Air Force to reduce its reliance on long runways and to mitigate potentially devastating effects of an attack on its airfields.

Singapore currently has five established airports and air bases on its 280-square-mile main island, with a smaller emergency landing strip on one of its smaller offshore islands. One of the established bases is due to close in the early part of the next decade.

The Air Force will replace its current fleet of 60 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole fighters with the F-35B, with the service to retire the F-16 fleet starting in the early 2030s, according to Ng.

The F-16s are spread among three locally based squadrons and a training detachment based at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. The detachment is due to move to Ebbing Air National Guard Base at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and will become the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s F-35 training detachment when deliveries begin in 2026.

Accompanying documents released by the ministry during the budget debate also revealed Singapore will acquire ST Engineering’s improved Bronco 3 armored tracked carrier to replace the original Broncos in service with Singapore’s Army. However, the documents did not reveal an acquisition timeline, a quantity of vehicles or a contract value.

The country is setting aside $13.4 billion for its 2023 defense budget, a 5.6% increase over last year’s figure.

Army redesigning fires units amid modernization push, chief says

The Army is planning new ways to organize and distribute artillery, air defense and counter-unmanned aerial surveillance units throughout the force as modernization projects come to fruition.

As the Army “transform[s], we’re gonna have to build new organizations,” said Gen. James McConville, the service’s chief of staff, at a Thursday event hosted by George Washington University’s Project for Media and National Security.

The chief described the looming force structure overhaul as a “hard look.” The Army’s challenge, he said, is designing and implementing organizations that adequately harness new technologies while not increasing their staffing levels.

Even before dismal recruiting numbers caused the Army to shed troops, the service’s decision to protect modernization projects from budget constraints meant its end strength would remain virtually unchanged for the foreseeable future.

McConville mentioned needing new unit designs specifically for long-range precision fires, air and missile defense, and counter-unmanned aerial surveillance.

Although the chief didn’t offer many details on the force structure redesign, some pilot efforts and other early steps are already known.

The service stood up a battery designed for the “Dark Eagle” hypersonic missile at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, in 2021. Those soldiers have launchers but still no missiles — the Army plans to complete another round of testing by the end of September, and defense publication Aviation Week reported the service expects to field the missile by then, too.

‘Dark Eagle’ has landed: US Army finishes equipping first unit with hypersonic capability — minus the missiles

Other reorganization efforts could potentially impact recently-fielded short-range air defense packages currently operating in Europe, as well as other fires capabilities like surface-to-ship missiles and extended-range cannons.

“We’re going to take a hard look at how do we do that within the resources and structure that we have,” McConville said.

Two officers recently argued in a West Point Modern War Institute article that the service should consider resurrecting the Coast Artillery Corps as a home for anti-ship fires.

Defense News land warfare reporter Jen Judson contributed to this report.

At Army experiment, experts tinker with tanks and communications kit

McLEAN, Va. — A U.S. Army office tasked with improving battlefield connectivity is now tinkering with a combination of armored vehicles and advanced communications gear, as the service prepares for larger, more-dispersed fights with heftier formations and ordnance.

The Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, or PEO C3T, has in recent months increasingly focused on what is known as Capability Set 25, an expected assemblage of commercial, off-the-shelf technologies and specialized military equipment, all with the Army division, a footprint of 15,000 soldiers and firepower, in mind.

“The day of the Army building its own capabilities only, and deploying them, are gone. It will always be a mix of commercial and military-unique capabilities, and that’s what’s going to make us effective,” Lt. Gen. John Morrison, the service’s top uniformed information-technology official, said last month at the Army IT Day conference, hosted by the Northern Virginia chapter of the communications- and electronics-focused group AFCEA.

“And all of us must be in,” he added, “because, quite frankly, our adversaries are all-in.”

After RIMPAC, Northrop eyes additional at-sea tests for smaller jammer

The Army is taking a stepwise approach to improving soldier communications and its own larger networks, the invisible threads that tie together assets on the front lines and back home. The increments are known as capability sets, which, like Apple’s iPhone, build upon the development and distribution cycles of one another.

The venture kicked off in fiscal 2021, with special attention paid to infantry and pragmatic networking tools. Additional batches of tech upgrades are expected in 2023, 2025, 2027 and in the years beyond.

The armor challenge

PEO C3T dispatched an expert team to Project Convergence, the Army’s contribution to the Pentagon’s connect-everything campaign, Joint All-Domain Command and Control, late last year to explore the intersection of modernized radios and armor, including the prized Abrams tank.

The cohort worked closely with the Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems, or PEO GCS, whose portfolio includes the main battle tank, the Stryker fleet and the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.

“Col. Shermoan Daiyaan and the team went down with some of the integrated tactical network,” PEO C3T boss Maj. Gen. Anthony Potts said at the IT Day conference, “and we did some preliminary prototyping onto some of their armored vehicles, onto some of the tanks.”

The experimentation at Project Convergence, which featured other services as well as foreign forces, including from Australia and the U.K., will inform how Capability Set 25 proceeds.

Other trials and pilots, namely in early 2022, at Fort Stewart, Georgia, were designed to better understand the needs of interconnected armored formations, which rumble across the landscape and often can’t afford to stop, but run the risk of disconnecting.

An Army leader previously told C4ISRNET challenges exist simply because of the diversity and needs of the armored fleet; it is, said then-Brig. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, deputy commanding general of maneuver for the 3rd Infantry Division, “massively different in size, scope and the actual physics.” Armor represents some of the Army’s most space-constrained platforms. Working new kit into them can be technically daunting, let alone time consuming.

“That is a long process for us to get through,” Potts said. An inquiry made to PEO GCS on Jan. 24 went unanswered.

A preliminary review of Capability Set 25 is expected in the coming months, in the spring. A critical design review, which will examine technological maturity and cost effectiveness and could crack open the door for procurement, will eventually follow.

Capability Set 23, a predecessor tailored to Strykers, passed its critical review in April and was sent to Europe for additional, live-fire testing. Previously identified issues associated with legacy Strykers and newer communications gear have been solved, the Army said.

Step by step

Network modernization is a top priority for the Army as it shifts to multidomain operations — the ability to deter and defeat an enemy, with help from others, in any location — and wrestles with the challenge of upscaled conflicts and communications environments jeopardized by adversaries such as China and Russia.

Both powers are capable of jumbling, intercepting and shutting down U.S. chatter. And any fight against them, against China in the Indo-Pacific or against Russia in Europe, will require the conquering of massive distances and other geographic hurdles.

“Like all things, we change,” Potts said. “We change, we adapt, based on what our adversaries are doing, based on the environment around us.”

Pentagon’s AI chief says data labeling is key to win race with China

Capability Set 25 is the first batch to inherently focus on the division, a formation capable of sustained fighting and upkeep. Previous capability sets were tied to the brigade, roughly 5,000 soldiers. Such smaller setups were the U.S. military’s mainstay for the war on terror, a global sweep pitched by a previous president as excising “a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.”

Things have since changed, with a renewed era of great power competition pushing the spotlight away from the Middle East and militant groups with inferior or outdated equipment.

“For many, many years now, we’ve been in a brigade-centric Army,” Potts said. “As I’m sure everybody in this room is aware, we are now going back to the division as the unit of action.”

Navy applies lessons from costly shipbuilding mistakes

BATH, Maine — The U.S. Navy appears to have learned from its costly lessons — after cramming too much new technology onto warships and speeding them into production — as it embarks on building new destroyers that are the backbone of the fleet.

Military officials say they’re slowing down the design and purchase of its next-generation destroyers, dubbed DDG(X), to ensure new technology like powerful lasers and hypersonic missiles are mature before pressing ahead on construction.

US Navy secretary sees no need to rush next-gen destroyer program

The Navy has learned “sometimes the hard way, when we move too fast we make big mistakes,” said Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations.

“Let’s be deliberate. Let’s not have our eyes become bigger than our stomach and get too far ahead of ourselves,” Gilday said last week at an event for defense industry officials in San Diego.

The Navy wants to turn the page on recent shipbuilding blunders.

Several newer combat ships designed for speed are being retired early after being beset by problems. The $13.3 billion aircraft carrier Ford experienced added costs from new catapults that launch airplanes. Workers completed construction of a stealth destroyer before its advanced gun system, already installed, was scrapped.

For the new ship, the Navy is reducing risk by conducting more land tests and borrowing the radar and targeting system from the latest destroyers that’ll soon join the fleet, said Lt. Cmdr. Javan Rasnake, spokesman for the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.

It’s also working with shipbuilders and designers to refine the ship’s blueprint, cost estimates, and workforce and supply forecasts, Rasnake said.

The Navy still plans to field some new technologies on the destroyer.

Last week, it awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.2 billion contract for hypersonic missiles that travel at five times the speed of sound, and can be fired from destroyers. Last summer, it awarded the first design contract for the new ship outfitted with those missiles and lasers powerful enough to shoot down aircraft.

Matt Caris, a defense analyst with Avascent, said it’s important that the Navy gets it right by balancing the best technology that’s reliable, affordable and attainable.

“The Navy is trying to thread the needle with some potentially revolutionary capabilities in as low risk and evolutionary process as possible. This was a lesson learned by the Navy’s laundry list of shameful acquisition programs,” he said.

Some worry about history repeating itself.

There are new Navy leaders overseeing many programs and “it’s easy to imagine them making similar mistakes again with a new cast of characters,” said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, a security think tank.

The Navy is in the midst of juggling its priorities as it seeks not just a new destroyer but also a new attack submarine and a replacement for the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet.

The Navy is in a difficult spot because the Biden administration is not interested in dramatically increasing the military budget, said Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute. Research and development alone would cost an extra $10 billion to $20 billion for the destroyer, submarine and jet, he said, representing a big chunk of the $220 billion Navy budget.

The speedy, coast-hugging literal combat ships embodied shipbuilding mistakes that the Navy is trying to avoid. Critics said early versions were too lightly armored to survive combat. One version of the LCS had propulsion problems. Some of the ships broke down and had to be towed. Plans for a submarine detection system were scrapped.

Combined, the costs of the stealthy Zumwalt destroyer and Ford-class aircraft carrier grew by $6.8 billion in today’s dollars, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

“They’ve digested that lesson,” Clark said. “Part of what you’re seeing is a recognition that the underlying technologies are not ready yet. They don’t want to drive the program where the ship starts production before the technology is ready.”

Gilday, who is the Navy’s top officer, said the transition to the new destroyers will likely start in the “2032 time frame.” For now, top Navy leadership want to keep current production lines of destroyers humming until designs are ready.

That means shipyards in Maine and Mississippi will continue making existing Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. They hold the Navy’s record for longest production run for large surface warships.

At Maine’s Bath Iron Works, where the first Arleigh Burke was built in 1998, shipbuilders are happy to continue building the existing ships while new designs are tested.

Charles Krugh, shipyard president, said shipbuilders prefer the approach of taking extra time to make sure the technology and design are right.

“If we get a fully designed ship, it’s obviously going to make us a whole lot more productive and efficient,” he said.

Space Force launch plan mirrors shift to smaller satellites

ORLANDO — The U.S. Space Force’s acquisition plan for its next phase of National Security Space Launch contracts reflects a shift toward launching more small satellites in a more diverse range of orbits.

The service announced its approach for what it calls NSSL Phase 3 on Feb. 16, issuing a draft solicitation to allow launch companies to provide feedback before a formal call for proposals this summer. The strategy would establish two provider groups, or “lanes,” with Lane 1 companies competing for less complex, commercial-like missions and those in Lane 2 vying for more stressing launches with unique requirements.

The two-lane approach is a departure from the service’s prior contract, Phase 2, which split all National Security Space Launches between two providers: United Launch Alliance and SpaceX.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the director of the Space Force’s launch enterprise, told C4ISRNET this week the Space Force’s approach for Phase 3 — namely the addition of a new lane for emerging launch companies — supports its changing approach to satellite programs.

Rather than launch fleets of a few large, expensive satellites, the service is eyeing what it calls “hybrid architectures.” These fleets of spacecraft feature a mix of small and large satellites in low and high orbits, spreading out what is now a more a consolidated capability. Officials hope this approach will make it harder for an adversary to target its satellites.

The Space Development Agency is leading the service’s shift toward hybrid constellations and Undersecretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration Frank Calvelli wants other parts of the Space Force to follow suit.

“The architecture changed a little bit in Phase 3,” Purdy told C4ISRNET in a Feb. 22 interview at the Space Force’s Space Mobility Conference in Orlando. “[Undersecretary] Calvelli has been very vocal about the distributed architecture going forward.”

The acquisition team expects Phase 3 to include up to 70 launches, with about 30 awarded through Lane 1 — which is open to a larger pool of providers — and 40 in Lane 2. Companies in the first lane will have to meet some launch vehicle requirements depending on the type of mission they’re supporting and those in Lane 2 must meet more stringent requirements.

SpaceX and ULA are the only companies that qualify for Lane 2 missions, but Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is in the process of being certified for those launches.

Col. Chad Melone, senior materiel leader for the Space Force’s mission solutions space acquisition delta, told reporters during Feb. 24 phone briefing that while the service is in the early days of its hybrid architecture transition, the Phase 3 acquisition strategy is intended to “make room” for growth — both for companies looking to break into the military launch market and for the Space Force as it increases the resiliency of its satellites.

“We think there is a warfighter benefit to the diversity that we’re going to see in Lane 1,” Melone said. “As much benefit as we think there’s going to be in on-ramping providers and allowing new, emerging providers to compete, we also think that the warfighter benefits from that resiliency and diversity.”

Maintaining a solid base

According to Purdy, when the Space Force was initially contemplating its Phase 3 strategy, it expected to take a sharper turn away from the Phase 2 approach of buying large blocks of launches from a small number of providers.

But moves in the commercial launch market caused the service to reconsider. Purdy said the launch acquisition team watched closely when Amazon in 2021 and 2022 opted to award bulk contracts to three companies to launch large portions of its Project Kuiper broadband internet constellation — an approach that was very similar to the Space Force’s Phase 2 strategy.

He said the service spoke with Amazon about its strategy and those conversations reinforced the benefits of using that approach for a portion of its launches. Buying in bulk reduces launch costs and locks in sub-suppliers, he said.

“When they did that, we realized we need to make sure that we’ve got a solid foundation for our most important missions, for our hardest missions,” Purdy told C4ISRNET. “There was a lot of influence and discussion as a result of that.”

The Space Force plans to award contracts to two Lane 2 companies and expects to have at least three competitors in that group: incumbents ULA and SpaceX and newcomer Blue Origin. Other companies could have their launch vehicles certified prior to the 2024 contract award, but the service hasn’t signed certification agreements with other providers.

Col. Douglas Pentecost, deputy program executive officer for assured access to space, told reporters in the Feb. 24 briefing that both lanes have drawn significant interest from industry. In fact, 27 companies have already signed up for an industry day on Feb. 28.

“There’s a lot of hunger in the industry,” he said.