The U.S. Space Force expects to select contractors by March 2026 for its Geosynchronous Reconnaissance & Surveillance (RG-XX) program, a new generation of satellites aimed at improving monitoring of objects and potential threats in geostationary orbit, program officials said.<\/p>\n
The RG-XX effort is designed as a \u201cproliferated\u201d constellation, relying on a larger number of commercially derived satellites rather than a small fleet of highly customized spacecraft. Proposals were requested in early January under an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract structure, with bids due in February, according to SpaceNews.<\/p>\n
\u201cRG-XX is really about building a proliferated GEO architecture to deliver surveillance reconnaissance for space warfighting at scale,\u201d Lt. Col. Darren Ng, the program\u2019s manager at Space Systems Command, said in comments reported by SpaceNews.<\/p>\n
The program will succeed the existing Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP), developed by Northrop Grumman, which consists of a limited number of high-end satellites. While GSSAP has provided detailed awareness of the GEO environment, Space Force officials say fuel constraints and the growing threat environment argue for a more numerous and resilient architecture.<\/p>\n
Col. Bryon McClain, program executive officer for space combat power, said the service is seeking to capitalize on changes in the defense and commercial space industries. \u201cGSSAP has provided us with a phenomenal capability,\u201d McClain said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do with RG-XX is look at the opportunity to harness a lot of change in the defense industry since we started the GSSAP program.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Space Force plans to continue operating GSSAP alongside RG-XX during the transition. Launches of GSSAP satellites 7 and 8 are scheduled for mid-February 2026 aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket, officials said, allowing time for RG-XX ground and space segments to mature.<\/p>\n
The RG-XX approach aligns with broader U.S. efforts to counter growing counter-space capabilities from potential adversaries, including China and Russia. The service has indicated that the first RG-XX satellites could become operational around 2030, supplementing other space domain awareness systems such as the Silent Barker program.<\/p>\n
Alongside space-based surveillance, the Space Force is upgrading its ground infrastructure. Northwood Space recently won a $49.8 million, three-year contract to modernize the military\u2019s Satellite Control Network (SCN), which supports telemetry, tracking and command for government satellites. The award followed a demonstration in late 2024 and comes as the number of satellites in orbit continues to grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe SCN handles a huge variety of consequential space missions for our government,\u201d Northwood Chief Executive Bridgit Mendler said previously, adding that increased capacity is needed to support larger constellations.<\/p>\n
In a separate development, the Space Force last month launched the GPS III SV09 satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket after shifting the mission from a Vulcan launcher to maintain schedule flexibility. The satellite, equipped with enhanced anti-jamming capabilities, is the ninth in the GPS III series and is intended to strengthen the resilience of the U.S. navigation system.<\/p>\n
Space Force officials say these parallel efforts\u2014new surveillance satellites, upgraded ground systems and flexible launch options\u2014reflect a broader acquisition shift toward faster integration of commercial technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is move at the speed of relevance,\u201d McClain said, referring to the service\u2019s use of IDIQ contracts and commercial procurement pathways.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The U.S. Space Force expects to select contractors by March 2026 for its Geosynchronous Reconnaissance & Surveillance (RG-XX) program, a new generation of satellites aimed at improving monitoring of objects and potential threats in geostationary orbit, program officials said. The RG-XX effort is designed as a \u201cproliferated\u201d constellation, relying on a larger number of commercially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7032,7033,7034,5812,7035,20,605,560,5841],"class_list":["post-20561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bryon-mcclain","tag-darren-ng","tag-geostationary-orbit-surveillance","tag-north-america","tag-rg-xx-program","tag-satellite","tag-space-systems-command","tag-u-s-space-force","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}