COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - PlaneWave Instruments in Adrian, Mich., has won a potential $94.1 million U.S. Space Force contract to develop and integrate autonomous sensing technologies for the Space Surveillance Network (SSN), part of ongoing efforts to modernize military space-domain-awareness capabilities.
The firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract supports the Decentralized Autonomous Organization Systems program, which seeks to rapidly field and integrate new sensing concepts into the SSN, according to a Department of Defense (DoD) contract announcement.
Work is expected to continue through 17 May 2031. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funding totaling $22.1 million was obligated at the time of award through the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies program.
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SSN background
The SSN is a worldwide network of ground-based radars, electro-optical telescopes, and space-based sensors used to detect, identify, catalog, and track satellites, spacecraft, and orbital debris. Managed by the U.S. Space Force, the network supports military space-domain-awareness missions by monitoring increasingly congested and contested orbital environments.
The SSN includes systems such as Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) sites, phased-array radar systems, and the Space Fence radar installation at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The Lockheed Martin-developed Space Fence uses S-band radar technology and digital beamforming to track small objects in low Earth orbit.
The network traces its origins to the early Cold War-era Space Track program established to monitor satellites and ballistic missile activity during the opening years of the Space Age.
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Several major defense contractors and commercial firms have contributed to SSN modernization and sustainment efforts. Lockheed Martin developed the Space Fence radar system, while L3Harris Technologies has supported maintenance and modernization of multiple space surveillance sensors and associated command-and-control infrastructure under the MOSSAIC program. Commercial firms such as LeoLabs have also expanded the use of distributed radar networks for tracking satellites and orbital debris.
While the Space Force announcement did not disclose specific technologies to be developed under the PlaneWave contract, the company specializes in robotic telescope systems, electro-optical tracking platforms, and autonomous satellite-monitoring technologies for space-domain-awareness applications.
PlaneWave publicly describes capabilities including direct-drive telescope mounts and gimbals for precision satellite tracking, infrared-optimized optical coatings, autonomous optical tracking systems, and software integration support for distributed sensing architectures. The company has also worked on optical ground station technologies supporting free-space optical communications and adaptive optics applications.
Related: Inside the Space Force mission to track satellites and potential threats
The contract language referencing "new sensing concepts" and decentralized autonomous systems suggests growing Space Force interest in proliferated and distributed sensing architectures intended to improve resiliency, responsiveness, and scalability for future military space surveillance missions.
The Space Systems Command Directorate of Contracting at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., is the contracting activity.
