The planned launches, which will take place starting in FY26, include sending a second SILENTBARKER watchdog satellite jointly developed by the service and the National Reconnaissance Office to geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO).
The Space Force sees nuclear fission reactors as a solution to replace solar panels for operations in the darkness of deep space.
The Space Force is interested in DRACO primarily as an option for allowing it to undertake rapid on-orbit maneuvers, but also for potential future missions out to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
"When people like to question the validity or usefulness of this engine, I point them to Wernher von Braun," said Tabitha Dodson, DRACO program manager at DARPA, "because this was more or less his idea."