The U.S. Space Force has awarded small study contracts to six companies to examine improvements to space testing training infrastructure under the Advanced Space Technology for Range Operations-Electromagnetic Range (ASTRO-E) effort.
The six-month study contracts amount to $1.8 million combined and were awarded on Feb. 29 to Nou Systems, ExoAnalytic Solutions, TMC Design, HII’s [HII] Mission Technologies segment, Parsons Corp.’s [PSN] Government Services business, and Lockheed Martin [LMT], U.S. Space Systems Command (SSC) said on Wednesday. The Space Force’s SSC and Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) through their integrated Operational Test and Training Infrastructure (OTTI) program office made the awards.
The contracts kick-off planning to enhance STARCOM’s National Space Test and Training Complex, improvements that “will provide ground infrastructure and on-orbit subjects integrated for electronic warfare test and training,” SSC and STARCOM said. “By providing space warfighters with interconnected, scalable, and distributed physical and digital ranges for full-spectrum testing and training, this project will enable joint warfighting solutions to prevail in conflict. ASTRO-E provides risk reduction for the OTTI vision of establishing a realistic, integrated system-of-systems architecture focused on providing threat-informed test and training environments.”
SSC’s OTTI Program Executive Office is working to establish a system-of-systems training architecture that includes live, virtual, and constructive environments to test, train, and develop tactics.