U.S. Space Force plans next missile-warning satellites in medium orbit

Companies interested in building the next U.S. Space Force missile warning satellites in medium Earth orbit have until Dec. 1 to answer a Space Systems Command request for information on Epochs 3 and 4. The deadline was originally Oct. 31, and a Nov. 10 update also raised the page limit to 50 and told firms with classified material to email the program office to arrange delivery.

No satellite from the program is in orbit yet, and the first Epoch 1 launch is now expected in 2027. Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing subsidiary, is building all 12 Epoch 1 satellites in two orbital planes. Space Systems Command gave Millennium a $386 million order for the second plane of six in October 2024, after canceling an earlier contract with RTX over cost growth and schedule delays. The first launch had been planned for the end of fiscal 2026 and slid because of supply chain and technical problems. The second plane is expected in fiscal 2028.

System Delta 84, in El Segundo, California, issued the request and calls it a study of Epoch 3 and 4 “production feasibility.” Companies can respond on the satellites or on a ground segment “to operate the entire MEO MWT constellation.” The notice also asks for digital engineering proposals. Kratos already runs the program’s Space Operations Center for Epochs 1 and 2 and later launches under an agreement worth up to $446.8 million signed in March 2026. Whether a new ground award would add to that work or replace it, the notice does not say.

On contracts, the notice is blunt: “The government is intending to use only Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract type with an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement. Feedback on this approach is welcome.” Under 10 U.S.C. 4022, a prime on such a deal has to give nontraditional defense firms or small businesses a significant role, or cover part of the cost itself. Foreign companies can join only as subcontractors, and the classified annex goes only to firms holding at least a Secret facility clearance; the public notice includes no satellite count or schedule.

BAE Systems, which won $1.2 billion in June 2025 for 10 Epoch 2 satellites and their ground systems, finished the program’s critical design review in September, 14 months after the award. Its first satellite is due in fiscal 2029. The Space Force has said a second Epoch 2 builder will be picked in early fiscal 2027, a window that opened in October.

“This allows for additional resiliency in the missile warning and tracking satellite architecture,” said Lt. Col. Brandon Castillo, materiel leader for Epoch 2, when the BAE contract was announced.

The Space Force defines MEO as the band between 1,200 and 22,000 miles (1,900 to 35,400 km) above Earth. That puts the constellation above the Space Development Agency’s low-orbit Tracking Layer.

Laser crosslinks let the satellites pass tracking data to each other. For Epochs 1 and 2, the program office “made the choice not to push the envelope on the crosslinks,” Brig. Gen. (select) Robert W. Davis, then program executive officer for space sensing, said in 2025, and Epoch 3 would depend on which designs industry could mature first.

“We’re in a little bit of a horse race to see which one’s going to mature in the industrial base,” Davis told Air & Space Forces Magazine in July 2025.

The notice names about 40 firms and research centers that advise the program office, including The Aerospace Corporation, MITRE and Anduril. Every response will be shared with them unless a company objects in its cover letter. Capt. Kerry Kearschner became the contracting officer in August.

The government “will acknowledge receipt of all submissions but is under no obligation to provide feedback,” the notice says, and skipping this round “does not preclude participation in any future RPP/RFP.”