Reston, Va. –
The National Reconnaissance Office is always looking for innovative ways to leverage commercial technologies that can expand its capabilities on orbit and enhance its national security mission, Maj. Gen. Christopher Povak, deputy director of the NRO, said Tuesday.
“We in NRO are able to leverage a lot of that investment in partnerships with industry to scale up our constellations,” Povak told industry leaders at the Defense and Intelligence Space Conference hosted by the National Security Space Association. “We look forward to your ideas, and we'll look forward to talking with more partners in the future.”
To meet this objective, Povak
announced the first awards under a new contracting mechanism that offers greater flexibility in accessing commercial technologies and can open the door to new partners. The Strategic Commercial Enhancements Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) enables the NRO to acquire innovative commercial remote sensing capabilities across multiple phenomenologies, including electro-optical (EO), hyperspectral imaging (HSI), radar, radio frequency (RF), and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR). The CSO awards illustrate the NRO’s commitment to fostering efficient pathways for partnering with industry.
Companies receiving the first tranche of awards are HEO for non-Earth imagery, SatVu for medium-wave infrared imagery, and Sierra Nevada Corp. for RF capabilities. These selections were based on their demonstrated potential to deliver cutting-edge capabilities. The CSO gives companies a five-year window to submit proposals, and additional awards will be announced later this year.
Povak noted that commercial systems serve as a force multiplier for the NRO. Technologies developed through these partnerships will help the NRO add capability and resilience to its architecture, ultimately enabling it to deliver critical information to warfighters, policymakers, and other users.
“We, from the high ground of space, see, hear, and sense things that no one else can,” Povak said. That vantage point has created an information advantage critical to maintaining America’s superiority in space. Leveraging the most innovative technologies form the private sector enables the NRO to use its national systems for the most sensitive and complex national security missions.
# # #