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The first base contract of AMTI satellites has been awarded.
COLORADO SPRINGS—The Department of the Air Force has awarded the base contract for new space-based air moving target indication (AMTI) systems and is now pursuing a contract for the first operational increment, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink announced April 15.
Meink announced the program development in his keynote speech at the Space Foundation’s annual Space Symposium here. Speaking with reporters following his speech, he said the base award involves multiple undisclosed vendors on an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract.
The Air Force issued a classified request for information on Feb. 6 for a radar space-based AMTI capability. The first operational satellite contract will be awarded “fairly shortly,” and the Air Force anticipates adding multiple providers to the contract in the future, he added.
The U.S. Space Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request includes $7 billion in procurement funds to field new AMTI satellites, an increase over the $2 billion congressional add for such systems included in the 2025 budget reconciliation bill. That significant amount of funding reflects the department’s confidence in the technical maturity of space-based AMTI systems, based on a series of recent and future prototype demonstrations, Meink said.
“We have on-orbit data that says the technology and the physics work,” he said, explaining that space-based AMTI has been in development for decades, but was not yet affordable until commercially derived digital technology reached a level of maturation.
Space-based moving target indication of both ground and air targets is a new priority area for the Department of the Air Force, as it pivots the mission away from airborne systems into orbit. Meink emphasized that many department missions utilize multiple platforms and phenomenologies, and MTI is no different.
“Just because space-based AMTI, I think, will be probably far and away the most capable AMTI system ever built, that doesn’t mean it’s going to do the entire job,” he said. “There are many other systems that come into play, as you do data fusion to get the bigger picture.”
As it procures AMTI satellites, the Air Force continues to work with Congress regarding the future of the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail aircraft, Meink said. “We’ve gotten some pretty specific direction from Congress, and we are, of course, complying with that,” he said.
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