The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command is asking companies for their input on how digital engineering can aid SSC’s Epoch 2 missile warning/missile tracking effort, which is to result in the award of contracts for 18 medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites next year.
“In the spirit of continuing to engage industry as part of market research in preparation for the upcoming Missile Track Custody (MTC) Epoch 2 acquisition, SSC is requesting industry input to help guide the program’s digital engineering (DE) implementation,” SSC said in a Request for Information (RFI) on Nov. 20. “Epoch 2 intends to leverage DE to streamline execution to enable the expected 3-year Firm Fixed contracting structure. The program defines DE as the process of digitally connecting models, data, and work to streamline the shared evolution of information though a digital environment. It is the governments assumption that the most effective way to aid contractors in bidding to and executing on the contract given these constraints, while also supporting enterprise DE goals, is to prescribe program documentation to the highest degree feasible, without impacting the contractor’s ability to design and be innovative.”
SSC has awarded three contracts to RTX [RTX], Boeing‘s [BA] Millenium Space Systems and L3Harris [LHX] for the nine satellite Epoch 1. On May 31, SSC awarded L3Harris nearly $29 million–the third and final Epoch 1 award–for a missile warning/missile tracking sensor payload.
SSC’s Epoch effort comes as DoD shifts focus from low numbers of geosynchronous orbit (GEO) missile warning/missile tracking satellites to more numerous ones in low Earth orbit (LEO) and MEO.
The Space Force’s fiscal 2024 budget zeroed research and development funding for one of the three planned GEO Next Gen Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next Gen OPIR) missile warning satellites by Lockheed Martin [LMT], as the Space Force posits that having a band of many, smaller satellites in lower orbits will complicate an adversary’s anti-satellite targeting and improve deterrence against adversary ballistic and hypersonic missile attacks (Defense Daily, March 15).
SSC’s Epoch 1 and 2 may have 27 missile warning/missile tracking satellites in MEO, and Space Force may field another 100 in LEO.
The Space Force Space Development Agency’s Tracking Layer is to dovetail with SSC’s Epoch. While SDA has two-year “Tranche” development cycles, SSC has its own three-year “Epochs.”
“The first delivery of the missile warning and tracking system, Epoch 1, is planned for fiscal years 2026 and 2027,” SSC said in June. “This missile track custody program delivers the latest OPIR sensing technology into an entirely new satellite constellation in MEO and supports SSC’s intent to deliver satellites every three years in Epochs, incrementally building capability and robustness over time.”
“In the last year, the [SSC] Space Sensing’s program office accelerated its posture in supporting the warfighter by redefining its mission to outpace the threat by pivoting the legacy OPIR warning mission into a more resilient missile warning, tracking, and defense (MW/MT/MD) mission,” SSC said. “In addition, the program developed the integrated plan to acquire the MW/MT/MD expanded mission architecture by establishing the Combined Program Office (CPO) with the Missile Defense Agency and the Space Development Agency to concurrently field integrated LEO, MEO, GEO, polar, and ground capabilities.”
SDA wants to have 35 Wide Field of View Tranche 1, Tracking Layer satellites in LEO in 2025.