Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., a technology company in the defense, national security and global markets, has officially confirmed the news of receiving a contract from the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA), a contract which is capped at a $116.7 million with duration of over five years.
Under the agreed terms, the company will create and operate an Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure (AFCGI) for SDA’s Advanced Fire Control (AFC) program. Once prepared, the AFCGI will deliver integrated space and ground elements to demonstrate advanced fire control missions for missile defense.
To give you some context, advanced fire control is known for delivering highly sophisticated systems for space-based sensing. These systems, on their part, make it possible to achieve precise and real-time coordination, all for the purpose of tracking operations in space to achieve effective responses against threats. For SDA, the new AFCGI will also, markedly enough, try and aid the agency’s Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter program, also known as FOO Fighter or F2. In case you weren’t aware, this particular program has been designed to detect and track advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missiles.
Anyway, taking a deeper view all what Kratos will do in regards to its latest contract, we must begin from how it will deliver and manage ground segment resources, including ground entry points and terrestrial network connections. Next up, it will handle the responsibility of fitting and managing government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility called the Demonstration Operations Center.
Moving on, the company will also be tasked with managing a government-procured and contractor-operated cloud environment to provide cloud services, including hosting space vehicle mission operations center software, and interfacing with mission partner systems. Apart from that, Kratos will bring forth capabilities for program management, systems engineering, integration, verification, and at the same time, it will oversee operations and maintenance of the AFC ground infrastructure.
“Advancements in missile technology and hypersonics that can travel at more than 3000 mph present new adversarial threats and will require new defensive capabilities to identify, track and respond to them rapidly. The AFCGI will serve as a standing sandbox for exploring and validating new technologies, solutions and techniques to address these threats with commensurate speed and agility. The GRM will enable the Space Force to capitalize on best of breed technologies from across the most advanced developers, and seamlessly integrate and orchestrate their operations,” said Phil Carrai, President of Kratos’ Space Division.
Hold on, we still have a few bits left to unpack. You see, as understood to be crucial for the AFGCI, Kratos will provide a Ground Resource Manager (GRM) which will be conceived for the FOO Fighter program and designed to support any future fire control demonstrations. This GRM will also draw its basis from the company’s OpenSpace Ground Platform to ensure interoperability, as well as support new space vehicles, built by multiple manufacturers from multiple AFC constellations.
Talk about OpenSpace Ground Platform, it happens to be an orchestrated, software-defined and cloud-native platform which is purposed around facilitating digital transformation of satellite ground systems to become a more dynamic and powerful part of the space network. At present, the platform is segregated into three product lines. For starters, we have OpenSpace SpectralNet, a solution capable of converting satellite RF signals to be used in digital environments. Then, there are OpenSpace quantum products that are, in simple words, virtual versions of traditional hardware components. Finally, you reach upon the OpenSpace Platform, which is the first commercially available, fully orchestrated, software-defined ground system.
Hence, by leveraging the given platform, satellite manufacturers should be able to synchronize their Command and Control (C2) missions into the AFCGI infrastructure. Not just that, they can also seamlessly integrate new network elements and software applications into the same.
Coming back to the promised GRM, it will play the role of a hub for the AFC constellations, demonstrating modern capabilities as they evolve to support increasingly sophisticated operational programs.
