{"id":779360,"date":"2026-05-07T09:51:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/779360\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:51:14","slug":"space-force-boosts-contract-ceiling-for-andromeda-space-monitoring-sats-to-6-2b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/779360\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Force boosts contract ceiling for Andromeda space monitoring sats to $6.2B"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2015 The Space Force is pumping another $4.4 billion into its contracting pool<\/a> for next-generation satellites to keep eyes on the heavens, bringing the previous ceiling for awards up from $1.8 billion to $6.2 billion.<\/p>\n

The service on Monday<\/a> announced the plan to bolster its new Andromeda space-based space domain awareness<\/a> program, explaining that the fiscal 2027 Pentagon budget request was \u201csignificantly increased\u201d shortly before the original award in April<\/a> in order to meet \u201cthe escalating threat environment projected for CY [calendar year] 2030+.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original Andromeda award tapping 14 companies to compete for future task orders focused on plans for a new constellation, called RG-XX<\/a>, to replace the current Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP)<\/a>\u00a0neighborhood watch satellites. <\/p>\n

The GSSAP birds that can snuggle up close to adversary satellites to perform reconnaissance. The RG-XX constellation is expected to be made up of smaller, lower-cost commercial satellites with more mobility, a refueling capacity<\/a> and a longer life span than the GSSAP sats.<\/p>\n

The Space Force asked for $355 million in FY27 for RG-XX, with a total of $2.8 billion over the five-year budget cycle. The service\u2019s budget documents show that the RG-XX birds will be launched in three \u201cincrements,\u201d with the first set going up in early FY29 and the final set in late FY30.<\/p>\n

However, Monday\u2019s announcement noted that the Andromeda Indefinite Delivery\/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle also will be used to fund a future replacement for the classified SILENTBARKER<\/a>\u00a0space surveillance constellation the Space Force operates in tandem with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), called SG-XX. Space Systems Command revealed in December<\/a> that the service would not partner with NRO for the replacement birds, which will carry wide-field-of-view cameras to do broad surveillance of the space environment. <\/p>\n

The service has yet to issue a request for proposals for SG-XX, but according to the service\u2019s FY27 budget documents, the \u201cproliferated\u201d constellation also will comprise small, low-cost commercial satellites. The Space Force asked for $370 million in FY27 to begin development of SG-XX, and a total of $1.7 billion through FY31. A first SG-XX launch is planned for FY30, according to the budget documents, but the Space Force intends to loft two prototype birds, called YSG-XX, in FY28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2015 The Space Force is pumping another $4.4 billion into its contracting pool for next-generation satellites to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":763392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[16813,317119,264244,198412,301888,196067,159,319107,783,88239,11268,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-779360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-andromeda","9":"tag-geoint-2026","10":"tag-geosynchronous-space-situational-awareness-program","11":"tag-national-reconnaissance-office","12":"tag-nro","13":"tag-rg-xx","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-silentbarker","16":"tag-space","17":"tag-space-domain-awareness-sda","18":"tag-space-force","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116532680403071010","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}