Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, announced that it was awarded a task order under the Command and Control System-Consolidated (CCS-C) Sustainment and Resiliency (C-SAR) contract with the U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) to support ground system capabilities for Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications (SATCOM) (ESS). The ESS system will provide a survivable and endurable satellite communications capability for the Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) mission in all operational environments.
First, the task order will begin to lay the CCS-C infrastructure groundwork to eventually support an out-of-band (OOB) ESS telemetry, tracking, and command capability as part of the larger SSC Military Communications & Positioning, Navigation and Timing Program Executive Office (PEO) mission. Second, it will create the necessary infrastructure to link the ground system solutions as required for operations. Third, through a pair of study efforts, it will facilitate the development of a road map for the implementation of ESS Mission Unique Software and CCS-C micro-services implementation. Finally, the effort will facilitate a prototyping effort to allow CCS-C users to utilize the new enterprise architecture.
The task order has a contract value of $25 million with 34 months of performance, beginning 14 March 2025 and concluding on 30 November 2027. This was accomplished under the C-SAR single-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract awarded to Kratos on 15 November 2023. The C-SAR IDIQ contract has a maximum value of $579 million to cover task/delivery orders to support operations, sustainment, enhancements, and constellation capacity.
The C-SAR contract supports the sustainment and operations of CCS-C, which provides secure and integrated communications for Military SATCOM (MILSATCOM) requirements across Wideband and Strategic systems. CCS-C delivers OOB command and control (C2) for MILSATCOM systems, currently including the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS), Milstar, Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS), and Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites. CCS-C may eventually play a pivotal role in OOB C2 for the ESS constellation.
According to Phil Carrai, President of Kratos’ Space, Training & Cybersecurity Division, “One of the primary CCS-C infrastructure changes associated with this task order is the implementation of Kratos’ OpenSpace Platform to support the specified needs of the program. OpenSpace employs a modern, containerized, and orchestrated architecture enabling the Space Force to select only the OpenSpace capabilities needed as missions evolve, providing a pathway for enterprise ground services for MILSATCOM constellations to effectively scale for future space vehicles while improving availability and resiliency.”
