Space Force To Add $4.4 Billion To RG-XX Contracting Vehicle

The U.S. Space Force plans to add $4.4 billion for a nascent program to build next-generation space domain awareness satellites for geosynchronous orbit, a May 4 government notice says.

The service in April awarded 14 companies a cumulative $1.84 billion contract to build those next-generation reconnaissance systems under a program called RG-XX, and surveillance satellites under an effort known as SG-XX, via a new contracting vehicle it calls Andromeda.

Now, Space Systems Command’s System Delta 89 intends to award a contract modification to the 14 vendors that would increase the total ceiling to $6.2 billion for “additional quantities” within the scope of the Andromeda contract.

The notice says the service’s space and reconnaissance budget for fiscal 2027 was significantly boosted “to address the escalating threat environment” projected to begin in calendar year 2030 just prior to the award decision on April 8. Rather than delay the contract awards and risk “an unacceptable delay to the planned delivery orders and face potential mission-critical impacts,” the Space Force chose to complete the source selection and then pursue a sole-source justification to boost the contract ceiling.

The 14 vendors currently on contract are: Anduril Industries; Astranis Space Technologies; BAE Systems’ Space Mission Systems; General Atomics-Electromagnetic Systems; Intuitive Machines; L3Harris Technologies; Lockheed Martin; Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems; Northrop Grumman; Quantum Space; Redwire Space Missions; Sierra Space; True Anomaly; and Turion Space. The contract deliverables include systems engineering, space systems and prototyping design, build and integration, demonstrations, and operations support.

The Space Force intends to on-ramp additional companies using the Andromeda contracting vehicle in the future, the notice said.