BAE to develop testbed for space technologies
BAE Systems will develop a space evaluation and analysis testbed under a $12.8 million contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced on 14 November.
The testbed will help the US military develop, evaluate, integrate and analyse advanced space enterprise C2 tools and capability technologies as part of DARPA's Hallmark programme.
The US military must be able to quickly establish situational awareness and execute operations in space. Within the space domain, many thousands of objects that are moving at extreme velocities must be tracked and managed. This information must be fused with land, air, sea, cyber, defence and intelligence data in order to make critical, time-sensitive decisions to protect space assets while supporting terrestrial missions.
BAE Systems will design and develop a scalable and secure enterprise software architecture that would becomethe backbone of technology development and experimentation. The architecture would facilitate the creation of a testbed facility — the Space Enterprise Analysis Capability (SEAC) — that would support the modelling of current and future space situational awareness and C2 technologies. The SEAC would also enable realistic, scenario-based exercises for testing space C2 technologies against sophisticated emerging threats.
The testbed will support live data feeds from diverse sources and provide strong security and data protection for varying levels of classification, in addition to external interfaces to support air, cyber, land, and sea environments.
Mike Penzo, director of ground resiliency and analytics at BAE Systems, said: ‘Military commanders must have superior space domain awareness in order to quickly assess, plan, and execute operations in this increasingly complex environment.
‘The Hallmark testbed is designed to help the military quickly evaluate and integrate technologies for space C2.’
More from Digital Battlespace
-
![Chess Dynamics successfully demonstrates Vision4ce AI-driven tracker]()
Chess Dynamics successfully demonstrates Vision4ce AI-driven tracker
The Vision4ce Deep Embedded Feature Tracking (DEFT) technology software is designed to process video and images by blending traditional computer vision with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to present actionable information from complex environments.
-
![Wave Relay devices cleared for security use on commercial systems in industry trend]()
Wave Relay devices cleared for security use on commercial systems in industry trend
Persistent Systems has been cleared by National Security Agency (NSA) to transmit sensitive data on commercial networks. The devices are added to the NSA’s Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) component list which also includes other companies’ products providing the same security.
-
![UK teases cyber spending boost in Strategic Defence Review ahead of “imminent” release]()
UK teases cyber spending boost in Strategic Defence Review ahead of “imminent” release
The release of the UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) has been long promised as mid-year. It is possible it could be as early as 2 June although the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) continues to play its cards close to its chest.
-
![Intelsat emphasises SATCOM resilience for SOF in contested domains (video)]()
Intelsat emphasises SATCOM resilience for SOF in contested domains (video)
Intelsat outlines how its multi-orbit SATCOM architecture is enhancing connectivity and resilience for special operations forces operating in degraded and contested environments.
-
![US Space Force’s next-generation missile warning system moves forward with $500 million in new contracts]()
US Space Force’s next-generation missile warning system moves forward with $500 million in new contracts
Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) satellites are intended to provide early warning of missile launches from any location worldwide and new ground stations will result in expanded coverage of critical missile warning.
