Space Force boosts contract ceiling for Andromeda space monitoring sats to $6.2B

DENVER ― The Space Force is pumping another $4.4 billion into its contracting pool for next-generation satellites to keep eyes on the heavens, bringing the previous ceiling for awards up from $1.8 billion to $6.2 billion.

The service on Monday announced the plan to bolster its new Andromeda space-based space domain awareness program, explaining that the fiscal 2027 Pentagon budget request was “significantly increased” shortly before the original award in April in order to meet “the escalating threat environment projected for CY [calendar year] 2030+.”

The original Andromeda award tapping 14 companies to compete for future task orders focused on plans for a new constellation, called RG-XX, to replace the current Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) neighborhood watch satellites.

The GSSAP birds that can snuggle up close to adversary satellites to perform reconnaissance. The RG-XX constellation is expected to be made up of smaller, lower-cost commercial satellites with more mobility, a refueling capacity and a longer life span than the GSSAP sats.

The Space Force asked for $355 million in FY27 for RG-XX, with a total of $2.8 billion over the five-year budget cycle. The service’s budget documents show that the RG-XX birds will be launched in three “increments,” with the first set going up in early FY29 and the final set in late FY30.

However, Monday’s announcement noted that the Andromeda Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle also will be used to fund a future replacement for the classified SILENTBARKER space surveillance constellation the Space Force operates in tandem with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), called SG-XX. Space Systems Command revealed in December that the service would not partner with NRO for the replacement birds, which will carry wide-field-of-view cameras to do broad surveillance of the space environment.

The service has yet to issue a request for proposals for SG-XX, but according to the service’s FY27 budget documents, the “proliferated” constellation also will comprise small, low-cost commercial satellites. The Space Force asked for $370 million in FY27 to begin development of SG-XX, and a total of $1.7 billion through FY31. A first SG-XX launch is planned for FY30, according to the budget documents, but the Space Force intends to loft two prototype birds, called YSG-XX, in FY28.