Northrop Grumman to Lead Space Force’s GMTI Satellite Program

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Space Force plans to begin deploying a satellite constellation capable of tracking ground-moving targets from orbit by 2028, Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon said.

Speaking with reporters at the Air & Space Forces Association conference in National Harbor, Gagnon said the Resilient Radar System-Ground, or RRS-G, program will be launched within the next two years. Northrop Grumman will build the satellites, he said.

Space Force officials have previously discussed fielding Ground Moving Target Indicator, or GMTI, satellites by 2028, but had not publicly identified the program or its prime contractor. Northrop Grumman did not respond to a request for comment.

Ground targets are currently tracked primarily by sensors aboard crewed and uncrewed aircraft. The Pentagon has sought to transfer that mission, along with the tracking of airborne targets, to space-based systems.

Gagnon, commander of the Space Force’s Combat Forces Command, said the service established its first space-based sensing and tracking unit last month: the 77th Surveillance Squadron. The squadron was created to begin establishing GMTI operations based on the RRS-G constellation.

The Space Force is partnering with the National Reconnaissance Office on GMTI while developing a separate capability to track airborne targets. The first of numerous satellites for the Airborne Moving Target Indicator, or AMTI, mission will launch this month, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Monday.

The Space Force aims to have an initial AMTI constellation operational by 2028 following a multibillion-dollar SpaceX award in May. No comparable timetable has been announced for the GMTI constellation.

The Space Force’s baseline fiscal 2027 budget request includes $1.02 billion for GMTI procurement. It also seeks more than $7 billion in reconciliation funding for AMTI and approximately $1.1 billion, through combined baseline and reconciliation funds, for a separate research and development effort.

Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve Contracts Imminent

In a separate roundtable, Col. Timothy Trimailo, head of the Space Force’s Commercial Space Office, said the service plans to contract commercial vendors soon to provide space domain awareness services. Space domain awareness, or SDA, encompasses tracking objects in orbit and assessing their intent.

Last year, the Space Force awarded pilot contracts to four companies for SDA work through its Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, or CASR. The program is designed to supplement military capabilities with commercial capacity during wartime. Trimailo said awarding contracts for operational SDA services is the program’s “first step” and will happen “very soon.”

Trimailo said officials are also examining a broad range of potential missions after the SDA effort, citing strong demand to identify needs that could fit a similar CASR arrangement.

“We’re trying to get some momentum here, and we are going to deliver operational capability through these contracts,” he said.

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