"What this does today ... is that it provides the ability to bring a number of different information feeds, a number of different data sources together in one picture," Kevin Laughlin, deputy director for the program executive office for spectrum, told reporters.
Progress on CCA, the AI-piloted “loyal wingman,” and JADC2 command networks will stall if Congress cannot pass funding for fiscal 2024, the Air Force Secretary warned – while China races ahead.
"We truly have demonstrated that the vision of JADC2 and the vision of the Joint Fires Network is a reality and we can do it," SDA Director Derek Tournear told Breaking Defense.
Kendall also expressed concern about the effects of a likely continuing resolution on key programs, including the Advanced Battle Management System and the Joint Advanced Tactical Missile.
The Space Force expects the multi-faceted Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) program to cost a total of $2.4 billion.
The Space Force, in essence, wants to move the 2018-conceived Unified Data Library from a card catalog system to a machine-to-machine search engine using artificial intelligence tools.
The contract includes 36 Tranche 2 Transport Layer - Alpha satellites and supporting ground elements, as well as five years of operations and sustainment.
A future challenge for the R2C2 program will be figuring out how it fits under the Pentagon's overarching Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) efforts, Kelly Hammett, director of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, told Breaking Defense.
All domain operations need something to fill the communications gap between broadband LTE and tactical radio systems.
SDA plans to purchase and deploy a minimum of 54 space vehicles equipped with infrared sensors from up to three vendors under the new solicitation for Tranche 2 of its Tracking Layer constellation.
While SDA plans to use lasers to connect its hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit to each other and to the ground, that technology remains in its infancy.
Making all-domain operations a warfighting capability means integrating, fusing, and disseminating a sensor picture appropriate for a particular theater segment, not all of them, says the Mitchell Institute’s David Deptula.
The award to Northrop Grumman Space Systems has a total value of approximately $733 million; the Lockheed Martin award, approximately $816 million, the SDA release said. All totaled, the Space Development Agency up to now has awarded nearly $4.5 billion for the Transport Layer.
DISA Director Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner also provided an update on the Pentagon's sprawling cloud effort, saying 13 task orders have gone out, totaling some $200 million.
The first analysis of what that architecture would look like was delivered to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in June, Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey said.