Pentagon seeks commercially built GEO spy satellites 

WASHINGTON — In a departure from how military space programs are traditionally acquired, the Pentagon is seeking proposals under which companies would build and initially operate satellites to monitor geosynchronous orbit — and then transfer those systems to government control within 36 months.

The approach is outlined in a new solicitation from the Defense Innovation Unit, or DIU, titled “Geosynchronous High-Resolution Optical Space-Based Tactical Reconnaissance.” DIU is a Pentagon organization created to help transition commercially developed technologies into operational military use.

The Pentagon is trying to fast-track the deployment of spacecraft for surveillance of geosynchronous Earth orbit, or GEO, a strategically important region roughly 22,000 miles above Earth where many U.S. communications, missile warning and intelligence satellites operate.

In the solicitation, DIU describes a “capability gap” in the U.S. military’s ability to monitor space. Adversaries are “escalating threats against the very systems the United States relies on for strategic deterrence and decision making,” the agency wrote, adding that the military lacks sufficient satellites capable of providing high-resolution space-to-space imagery and maintaining custody of both friendly and adversarial spacecraft in GEO.

DIU is using a Commercial Solutions Opening, a streamlined contracting approach that relies on Other Transaction authority to award prototype agreements more quickly and with fewer regulatory requirements than standard federal procurement. Under such agreements, companies typically put up their own capital alongside the government.

The Pentagon is testing a new way to acquire satellites. DIU would select vendors capable of developing and fielding a GEO reconnaissance system on commercial terms and timelines, demonstrating it under their own operational control, and then transferring the spacecraft to government ownership and operations once performance is proven.

Companies selected for prototypes must be able to deliver a high-resolution electro-optical image of a resident space object in GEO using a commercially operated satellite within 24 months of award. Within 36 months, they would need to transition from a commercially owned, commercially operated model to a government-owned, government-operated structure.

DIU did not specify how many vendors it plans to select or how many satellites could ultimately be procured. Proposals are due March 3, and the solicitation is open to U.S. and international vendors.

The Pentagon’s GEO surveillance architecture has evolved over the past decade. The Space Force operates the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, a constellation of maneuverable satellites that conduct close-range inspection and characterization of other spacecraft in and around GEO. The military also relies on Silent Barker, a joint Space Force-National Reconnaissance Office system designed to provide more persistent custody of objects in orbit.

More recently, the Space Force has begun work on a next-generation effort known as RG-XX that could introduce a more resilient and potentially lower-cost or more distributed approach to GEO surveillance.