Northrop Grumman’s Post

Ball Aerospace, Parsons, General Dynamics, and Omni Federal each won $9.7 million contracts from the U.S. Space Force to develop competing designs of next-generation ground systems. The contracts, announced Nov. 9, are for a project known as FORGE C2, short for Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution Command and Control. The Space Force wants to modernize the ground systems that control spacecraft and process data from existing and future geostationary and polar orbit satellites — including the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) and Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) constellations. The Space Systems Command started the FORGE program in 2019 with the goal of creating an open architecture for missile-warning ground systems to replace the current proprietary ground stations developed and operated by SBIRS and Next-Gen OPIR prime contractor Lockheed Martin. “The FORGE C2 prototype will lay the groundwork for a government-owned, cyber secure modular open systems approach for missile warning satellite command and control, including mission management, ground control, telemetry, tracking and commanding,” said the Nov. 9 announcement. #SpaceForce #SSC #FORGEC2 Image: Illustration of a SBIRS missile-warning satellite. (Lockheed Martin)

#USSF #DerekTournear #SpaceDevelopmentAgency #SDA #ProliferatedWarfighterSpaceArchitecture #Tranche2TrackingLayer #L3Harris #LockheedMartin #SierraNevadaCorporation #SNC #SierraSpace "The Pentagon on Tuesday announced about $2.5 billion in contracts will go to L3Harris, Lockheed Martin and Sierra Space to build satellites for an expanding military system. The U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency is having the trio of companies build 54 satellites as part of a network the U.S. military is building, the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. These satellites will be for the “Tranche 2 Tracking Layer” of the satellite constellation, related to missile defense. Under the awards, each company will build 18 satellites — 16 for missile warnings and tracking, and two with missile defense infrared sensors. The fixed-price contracts are worth $919 million for L3Harris, $890 million for Lockheed Martin and $740 million for Sierra Space. The satellites are expected to launch in April 2027. “The agile response across the space industry is critically important as we deliver to the warfighter this no-fail mission capability of missile warning, missile tracking, and missile defense,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said in a statement. PWSA is a constellation designed to have hundreds of satellites in orbit, for greater resiliency and redundancy than previous U.S. military satellites. It is being built out in “tranches,” and each will represent a new generation of satellites with increasing capabilities. Each tranche consists of two “layers:” Transport, for mesh communications, and Tracking, for targeting locations and missile defense. The Pentagon has increased its ambitions in space, seeing a need to keep up with China’s growing capabilities in a domain that has widespread ramifications for national security efforts back on Earth. The Space Force has especially seen its budget grow, with $30 billion requested for fiscal 2024, about double its budget from 2021. Much of that funding goes to defense contractors and space companies providing products and services to the military. The SDA has previously awarded contracts to build and operate satellites for the same network to Lockheed and L3Harris, as well as Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, York Space and Rocket Lab. Sierra Space is a privately held spinoff from Colorado-based aerospace and defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation. Late last year, Sierra Space added about 150 employees with security clearances from SNC, as part of a broader restructuring after shipping its first Dream Chaser spaceplane."

The Space Development Agency agency continues moving the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) forward. #SemperCitius Achieving “speed” (time from concept / RFP to fielding an operational system) is a multivariable calculation. As mentioned in the comments to Michael Sheetz’s post, and as outlined in various DoD policy statements, I too long for the transformation envisioned by the PWSA to include hyper-fast moving startups with amazing new technology in development. However based on statements and even LinkedIn posts by Derek Tournear in the recent past some advanced capabilities will be put at the warfighter’s disposal faster by more experienced, mature commercial entities. That being said if DoD investments are not made in the startup segment of the space ecosystem the “spirals” may not really achieve the technology leaps that will be needed to sustain this vision into the future.

Couldn’t agree more with SpOC’s near term objectives: enhance (space) domain awareness, integrate (US) commercial capabilities, and integrate international (government & commercial) capabilities.

One of SpOC's primary objectives is to cultivate prepared and resilient combat-capable space forces. To achieve this, it is imperative we comprehend the complexities of space as a domain of warfare. In episode 141 of The Aerospace Advantage, "Building Counterspace Capabilities: Smart Spacepower," a panel of subject matter experts delve into the topic of smart space power and its significance in both present and future space operations. To establish a more durable hybrid space architecture, it is crucial to enhance domain awareness while also fostering the seamless integration of commercial and international capabilities. These steps are essential in ensuring that space remains a secure and sustainable environment for the United States, its allies, and its partners. #ViaVincimus https://bit.ly/45Bpbht8

A condensation experiment developed by Purdue University was launched to the International Space Station on the Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply 19 (NG-19) mission Tuesday. To live on the moon or Mars, humans will need heat and air conditioning that can operate long term in reduced gravity and temperatures hundreds of degrees above or below what we experience on Earth. Building these systems requires knowing how reduced gravity affects boiling and condensation, which all heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems use to operate in Earth’s gravity. https://lnkd.in/gABY-2Dm.

Comprehensive and accessible overview of the evolution of space warfare.

#spacehistory #freespaceeducation 🕵♂️ Are you not aware of the history of the United States Space Force (USSF) or the joint exercises with France as well as Germany? 🤺 This video can help you build context from the beginning of the "space race" to recent years with the establishment of the USSF. You can use a great background and another #freespaceeducation resource to #breakintoorbit. https://lnkd.in/ef-7NSnG

“A quick refresher: In the few years since the Space Force became the first new U.S. military service branch since before the Cold War, one of its units has evolved into a satellite-building, money-slinging, fast-moving agency. Known as SDA, or the Space Development Agency, the unit is aggressively ordering and launching satellites for a new network known as the "Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture," or PWSA. The idea is to build an interconnected constellation, a la Starlink, that consists of hundreds of satellites, instead of dozens or less. The goal of PWSA is to have more redundancy and greater connectivity for lower risk, as each satellite in the constellation costs a fraction of the powerful but bespoke military assets of the past. Additionally, each "Tranche" (or generation) is aimed to be bigger and badder than the last – expanding the Space Force's support of the broader U.S. military with capabilities like communications, location targeting and missile defense. When we last discussed PWSA in this newsletter, the SDA had awarded about $5 billion in contracts to five different companies. Now we're pushing $10 billion in awards, to build more than 400 satellites, with seven companies in the mix”.

A lot of interesting news in this article, here's a sample: #USSF #SDA #PWSA "... A quick refresher: In the few years since the Space Force became the first new U.S. military service branch since before the Cold War, one of its units has evolved into a satellite-building, money-slinging, fast-moving agency. Known as SDA, or the Space Development Agency, the unit is aggressively ordering and launching satellites for a new network known as the “Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture,” or PWSA. The idea is to build an interconnected constellation, a la Starlink, that consists of hundreds of satellites, instead of dozens or less. The goal of PWSA is to have more redundancy and greater connectivity for lower risk, as each satellite in the constellation costs a fraction of the powerful but bespoke military assets of the past. Additionally, each “Tranche” (or generation) is aimed to be bigger and badder than the last – expanding the Space Force’s support of the broader U.S. military with capabilities like communications, location targeting and missile defense. When we last discussed PWSA in this newsletter, the SDA had awarded about $5 billion in contracts to five different companies. Now we’re pushing $10 billion in awards, to build more than 400 satellites, with seven companies in the mix. ... The current PWSA winners, by contact value, are three of the usual suspects – Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and L3Harris – but then it gets interesting. York Space has been tapped to make more satellites than anyone but Northrop Grumman, to the tune of $1.3 billion. Then you’ve got Rocket Lab and Sierra Space in the mix, who jumped into PWSA with awards this month. You can see what it’s meant to those two most recent additions to the program: Rocket Lab heralded its award as marking a “new era as a leading satellite prime,” while Sierra Space emphasized being put “on the short list of companies that can deliver, as a prime, in missions critical to the warfighter.” A quick caveat is that these contracts are not all equal, especially since they’re fixed-price deals. Each company bid what they thought they could make the satellites for, and each of the Tranches have different layers with varying requirements, i.e., different use cases and different demands. But the bottom line is that big money is rolling out now from SDA. Already the agency’s launched the first PWSA satellites it began ordering in 2020, and it has about 350 satellites on tap for delivery and launch in the next three years. SDA’s closing out the Tranche 2 ordering phase, and it’s already outlined that orders for Tranches 3 and 4 will be coming through the end of the decade. .."