Space company HawkEye 360 eyes global RF and microwave SIGINT from orbiting satellites in $10 million deal

Oct. 8, 2021
HawkEye 360 operates 9 RF-monitoring satellites, with plans for 30-satellite constellation for signals intelligence revisits every 20 minutes by 2025.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in Washington has issued a $10 million contract to commercial satellite company HawkEye 360 in Herndon, Va., to use satellites to detect and map radio frequency emissions all over the world. C4ISRnet reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

8 Oct. 2021 -- HawkEye 360 officials say they will provide services for NGA analytics to help the agency detect and track military and criminal activities. Combatant commanders will be able to use the data.

The intelligence community has been assessing HawkEye 360 since December 2019 for signals intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities, which use satellites to detect and characterize RF emissions when the National Reconnaissance Office issued the company a study contract.

NGA was able to leverage that study contract, initiating a RF GEOINT Pilot program with the company in Sept. 2020 to further see how the company’s unclassified RF and microwave capabilities could benefit the agency. Following a request for proposals in March 2021, the company was awarded the sole contract in July.

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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics

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