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The U.S. Space Force awarded BAE Systems the first contract for its MEO-based missile warning/missile tracking Epoch 2 program.
The U.S. Space Force expects to soon award a second contract for its next batch of missile warning/missile tracking satellites in medium Earth orbit (MEO), the program executive officer for space sensing said July 1.
The service on May 29 awarded a $1.2 billion contract to BAE Systems Space and Mission Systems–formerly Ball Aerospace–to build 10 satellites over two planes for Epoch 2 of the Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking (MWT) contract, with the first satellite delivery expected in 2029.
Now, Space Systems Command is preparing to tap a second vendor to build at least one additional plane of satellites for Epoch 2, with contract award expected in either late fiscal 2025 or early 2026, “depending on budgets,” Space Force Col. Robert Davis said in a webinar hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Davis was recently Senate-confirmed for promotion to the rank of brigadier general.
The service may procure a fourth plane from this second vendor, if budgets allow, he added.
Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing subsidiary, is building 12 satellites in two planes under the program’s Epoch 1 contract. The first plane is scheduled to begin launching in 2027–about one year later than originally scheduled–and the second plane is expected to launch around 2028, Davis said.
The delay in launching Epoch 1 stems in part from a change in contract approach, he noted. Raytheon was to build three spacecraft under that contract, but the Space Force cut the contractor from the program in May 2024, citing schedule delays and cost overruns. SSC has also experienced supply chain issues, as well as design challenges that impacted the Epoch 1 deployment schedule, Davis said.
The Space Force launched the Resilient MWT program to provide persistent tracking of modern asymmetric threats such as hypersonic glide vehicles being developed by Russia and China, as well as ICBM launches. Plans call for the MEO-based constellation to be fielded via a spiral acquisition process that would put new capabilities into orbit every two-three years under the so-called Epochs.
As the service develops requirements for the forthcoming Epoch 3 development effort, observers can expect it will include an optical crosslink standard that would allow for multi-plane and multi-vendor connectivity, Davis said. Epoch 3 will likely also see increased battlespace awareness requirements, along with other capabilities based on conversations with industry.
“The last thing we want to do is get ourselves in a situation where we’re asking too much, driving too much risk in that timeline, and now we’re waiting around for capability on orbit,” Davis said.
The Space Force has requested $686.3 million in fiscal 2026 Research, Development, Test and Evaluation funds for the Resilient MTW in MEO program, with about $485.6 million of that dedicated to Epoch 2 activities. The total expected cost of the Epoch 2 element is $3.8 billion, to include research-and-development funds as well as the procurement of prototype units, according to Space Force budget request documents released July 1.
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