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May 1, 2019 By AMK

‘Space Force’ windfall unclear for eager defense companies

As the Pentagon reorganizes its oversight of space and figures out the right mix of its future satellites, a similar transformation is going on with companies who build the spacecraft, rockets, and technology the Defense Department seeks.

Traditional large defense firms and small commercial startups are watching closely to see whether Congress will approve the Trump administration plan to create a Space Force, a new sixth branch of the military, and how the new Space Development Agency plans to create a web of hundreds of new military satellites in low-earth orbit.

“We’re in a really critical transitional time, it’s very transformational for something that we all know that we all feel every day,” Bill Gattle, president of Harris Corporation’s Space and Intelligence Systems segment, said in an interview at the Space Symposium, a trade show of military, civilian and commercial space professionals. “It’s changing pretty radically.”

Pentagon efforts to develop new satellite constellations are fragmented, however, and there remains a debate about what kinds of satellites the military should use. In recent years, there have been warnings that China and Russia are building weapons that could shoot down, jam, or hack the Pentagon’s larger navigation, communications, missile warning, and weather satellites. Those intelligence predictions have prompted a call for smaller and cheaper satellites that are closer to Earth and could serve as backups to the larger satellites in higher orbits.

Keep reading article at: https://www.defenseone.com/business/2019/04/defense-companies-already-preparing-space-force-windfall/156234

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Air Force, DoD, Pentagon, rapid buying authorities, satellite, Space Development Agency, Space Force

April 24, 2018 By AMK

Military will award $10 million to the company that can launch satellites on short notice

U.S. military leaders are bullish about small satellites as tools to spy on adversaries and provide secure communications, but there’s just one problem: There isn’t a good way to get them into space, on demand.

Inspired by NASA’s partnerships with rocket makers like SpaceX, the Pentagon is turning to private industry, as half a dozen companies, most backed by venture capitalists, are working to launch small satellites more cheaply than ever to meet the demands of a growing number of small-satellite startups.

“There’s already a lot of commercial money going into development for these boosters,” Todd Master, a program manager at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency told Quartz at the Space Symposium, a conference bringing together space companies and government officials in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “But nobody is asking them to be much more responsive. Our discussions with them are: Could you go faster? Could you go from anywhere? And they’re like, ‘Yeah, but nobody is asking us to do that.’”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/04/us-military-will-award-10-million-company-can-launch-satellites-short-notice/147588

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: DARPA, DoD, NASA, Pentagon, satellite, SpaceX

March 27, 2018 By AMK

Air Force divides new launch contracts between SpaceX, ULA

SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have split up to $645 million in new contracts to deploy U.S. Air Force navigation and surveillance satellites into orbit from 2019 through 2021.

A Falcon 9 rocket built and operated by SpaceX will launch the Air Force’s fourth new-generation GPS 3-series navigation satellite in late 2019. The Air Force and SpaceX also secured options for two additional GPS satellite launches in 2020 and 2021, raising the total potential value of the contract to nearly $290.6 million.

Two United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets will loft the Air Force’s AFSPC-12 and AFSPC-8 missions, both destined for deployment in circular geosynchronous orbits more than 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the equator. The AFSPC-8 and AFSPC-12 missions are scheduled for launch in 2020.

The contracts for the two Atlas 5 launches are valued at $354.8 million. A ULA spokesperson said the company is not currently releasing which Atlas 5 configurations — the size of the payload fairing and number of solid rocket boosters — will launch the two missions.

Keep reading this article at: https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/03/20/u-s-air-force-divides-new-launch-contracts-between-spacex-ula/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Air Force, satellite, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance

March 29, 2016 By AMK

Pentagon opens investigation into contracts with ULA

The internal watchdog for the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) has opened a probe into whether the Pentagon’s contracts with United Launch Alliance (ULA) were properly awarded after a former ULA executive implied the government rigged a recent procurement in favor of the company.
Atlas 5 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral with a U.S. Navy communications satellite in January 2015. Photo credit: ULA
Atlas 5 rocket launch of a U.S. Navy communications satellite from Cape Canaveral in January 2015. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance.

The investigation inside the Pentagon is the latest twist in one of the space industry’s leading storylines in recent years — the contentious rivalry between ULA, the sole launch services provider for the U.S. government for nearly a decade, and newcomer SpaceX led by billionaire tycoon Elon Musk.

DoD’s inspector general is looking into assertions made by Brett Tobey, ULA’s former vice president of engineering, during a March 15 seminar at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Tobey discussed ULA’s decision last year not to bid in a head-to-head competition with SpaceX for the launch of a Global Positioning System navigation satellite. At the time, ULA said it did not submit a proposal for the launch due to restrictions on the use of Russian engines on the Atlas 5 rocket and because it lacked accounting systems required in the structure of the Air Force’s request for bids.

Keep reading this article at: http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/03/24/pentagon-opens-investigation-into-contracts-with-ula/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Air Force, competition, DoD, fair and open competition, full and open competition, satellite, SpaceX, ULA, United Launch Alliance

November 5, 2013 By AMK

DISA keeps Iridium satellite access with $438 million in new contracts

Military and other federal users will continue to have access over the next five years to the Iridium satellite constellation, which supports handheld phones, through a set of contracts worth $438 million that the Defense Information Systems Agency signed with the company in October.

DISA awarded Iridium a $400 million airtime contract on Oct. 18 and on Tuesday signed a $38 million deal with the company to for maintenance and support of the DISA-owned satellite gateway located on Wahiawa, Honolulu, Hawaii and first turned on in 1998.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2013/10/disa-keeps-iridium-satellite-access-438-million-new-contracts/72524

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: DISA, DoD, GPS, satellite

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