Latest news with #StephenPurdy
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amid demand for satellite support, Space Force leans on commercial
The Space Force this week announced a new Joint Antenna Marketplace aimed at helping it leverage commercial capacity and relieve the strain on its Satellite Control Network. Space Systems Command said Monday it awarded contracts to two firms — Auria, formerly Boecore, and Sphinx Defense — to establish the cloud-based marketplace prototype, dubbed JAM, which will connect satellite operations centers with government and commercial antennas. The service said Monday it's using the Pentagon's software acquisition pathway to create the marketplace, a tailored procurement method meant to help programs buy software more quickly. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently mandated that all military software be developed and purchased through the pathway. 'The program is currently in the planning phase of the Software Acquisition Pathway and is accelerating commercial capability delivery via prototype development,' SSC said in a statement. JAM will expand the Space Force's existing globally dispersed Satellite Control Network, or SCN, which provides critical launch support, satellite tracking and control, and emergency assistance for spacecraft. The Defense Department and other federal agencies rely on the network for operations support, and demand for the capability has grown significantly in recent years. For the last decade, utilization rates have surpassed the industry standard, according to a 2023 Government Accountability Office report. Space Force officials have said the current SCN architecture on its own may not meet the military's capacity needs during a conflict. The antennas in line to augment and eventually replace SCN's aging infrastructure through a program called Satellite Communications Augmentation Resource, or SCAR, are expected to increase satellite communications capacity by ten-fold for spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit, the Space Force estimates. The new phased-array antennas are being built by BlueHalo. The systems, dubbed Badger, provide multi-beam, multi-orbit mission operations and are designed to make it easier to track and manage satellites. They can also be easily transported around the world. The Space Force awarded the company $1.4 billion in 2022 to deliver 12 units by the early 2030s. However, under its current schedule, the first units won't deliver until the end of this year – a timeline that the service's acting acquisition executive says is not fast enough. Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy told lawmakers Thursday that while SCAR is making progress, the program is moving 'too slow for my taste and too slow for the need.' Speaking at a House Armed Services Committee hearing, he said that along with helping the Space Force better leverage commercial systems, JAM provides a 'backup plan' for SCAR that provides the extra support in the near term. JAM builds on experimentation the service has conducted with the Space Development Agency and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office to integrate commercial capabilities through a cloud-based SCN. The marketplace 'is going after full-up commercial,' Purdy said, and will open up significant new capacity.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Space Force eyes commercial options for space surveillance mission
The Space Force is scanning the commercial marketplace for space domain awareness capabilities that could be part of a future proliferated constellation, according to its top military acquisition officer. The service reached out to industry last year for concepts for satellites and sensors that can track activity and objects in space from geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth. The Space Force already has sensing systems in GEO through its Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP. But these new satellites would be small, potentially refuelable and lower cost than existing capabilities. Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the acting space acquisition executive, said Tuesday at a Washington Space Business Roundtable event in Washington, D.C., that he's tasked the Space Force's acquisition team to push forward with a commercial analysis of the responses it received from industry that considers what capabilities are available off-the-shelf, their price point and the potential delivery time frames. Space domain awareness is a top priority for both the Space Force and U.S. Space Command as they look to monitor and respond to threats in space. Purdy said Space Command, in particular, has been pushing for an unclassified capability, particularly as it looks to strengthen partnerships with U.S. allies and commercial companies. Speaking with reporters after the event, Purdy said there has been significant interest from international partners in buying into the space domain awareness constellation the Space Force is exploring. Bringing on more commercial companies and international allies presents a challenge with a classified system, he noted, but the service is considering whether it could split the GSSAP mission so that the unclassified functions could be performed by outside firms or foreign militaries. The Space Force is conducting similar analyses across other mission areas, Purdy said, as part of a bigger push to find areas where it can use commercial means to get the capabilities that operators need on faster timelines and at lower cost. Purdy said he plans to issue similar directives — called acquisition decision memorandums, or ADMS — for 'a host of other programs,' including other space domain awareness systems, as well as satellite communication programs. Purdy said the effort is meant to disrupt the Space Force's typical practice of waiting five years or longer to refresh technology — an approach that doesn't work when industry is rapidly iterating and introducing new capabilities. He noted that some of this analysis won't lead to major changes in programs, especially if it turns out the expensive, complex requirements are what operators need to perform their missions. The acquisition community's job, he noted, is to provide options. 'A lot of the most expensive systems, they have key requirements that are driving that expense and time,' Purdy said. 'That may be what the operator wants, that's fine. But I owe it to them as an acquirer in the community to find out, 'Hey, some of these new commercial options, is this a good trade off?'' Regularly checking in with the commercial market and finding ways to introduce new technology on faster timelines isn't necessarily a new approach for the Space Force. The Space Development Agency, which is developing a large constellation of small satellites to track missiles and transport data, has built its acquisition strategy around a two-year technology refresh cycle. Purdy said he wants to emulate that within other parts of the Space Force, including Space Systems Command, the service's primary acquisition hub. 'I've issued those ADMs specifically to get us out of one-off, billion-dollar systems and into proliferated architectures,' he said. 'We are absolutely trying to move into that same model.'
