The $1.2 billion other transaction agreement from Space Systems Command (SSC) is for Epoch 2 of the Resilient Missile Warning and Missile Tracking – MEO (MEO MW/MT) program. The constellation is intended to track high-speed missiles from MEO and is part of the service’s broader plans to build a resilient architecture of satellites that can detect missiles from multiple orbits — as well as contribute to President Donald Trump’s homeland missile defense effort known as Golden Dome. 

“Epoch 2 is in alignment with the Chief of Space Operation’s top priority to provide accurate real-time information to decision-makers. This allows for additional resiliency in the missile warning and tracking satellite architecture” Lt. Col. Brandon Castillo, materiel leader for the Epoch 2 program office, said in a statement.

SSC intends to develop and launch the MEO MW/MT constellation in phases known as “epochs” that will be delivered every two to three years, with each iteration featuring improved capabilities from previous increments. According to the service, Epoch 2 satellites will include more mature sensors, optical crosslinks, data fusion, mission management and ground communication capabilities.

The contract with BAE Systems comes after the Space Force was forced to delay awarding Epoch 2 by about three months due to the federal government operating under a continuing resolution and resulting budget uncertainty. Despite the delay, the company is expected to deliver the 10 satellites for Epoch 2 — expected to provide initial operational capability to warfighters — in fiscal 2029, according to SSC.

In 2023, the service awarded RTX and Boeing-subsidiary Millennium Space Systems contracts to each build space vehicles for Epoch 1 of the MEO MW/MT constellation, with RTX responsible for three satellites and Millennium responsible for six. However, RTX was removed from the program the following year due to design performance issues and cost overruns.

SSC later tapped Millennium to deliver six more satellites for Epoch 1 to replace RTX’s space vehicles. Delivery of the first Epoch 1 birds is expected during fiscal 2026, according to the service.

The new MEO constellation is being developed at the same time as the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), which will comprise hundreds of missile warning and missile-tracking satellites stationed in low-Earth orbit (LEO). SSC is working closely with SDA and the Missile Defense Agency through a “combined program office approach” to execute the effort, according to the Space Force.

“Delivering these critical Missile Warning and Tracking capabilities on rapid timelines in a collaborative approach with MDA and SDA is a big win for the Nation and our joint forces,” Maj. Michael DiMuzio, program element monitor and assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, said in a statement.

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The bus will be launched into low-Earth orbit (LEO) onboard a Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket in the first half of 2025, Jeff Schrader, Lockheed Martin Space’s vice president of strategy and business development, told reporters Wednesday. Although it will carry a communications payload, the intent for the self-funded mission is “to show that we’ve built a system, the [technology readiness level] has been burned down, how long we can actually plan to be able to build those in the future to offer to our customers,” Scharder said.

For decades, the Pentagon has used a small number of large, exquisite satellite buses for its space missions that have become increasingly more costly and time-consuming to build. As demand for space-based warfighting capabilities continues to grow, the department has shifted its strategy and is now focused on buying smaller, less expensive satellites in larger numbers — such as those acquired for the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).

Schrader said Lockheed Martin developed the LM 400 over the last three years to serve as a “middle ground” between the two options, allowing customers to carry additional power and payloads than smaller satellites while still keeping price tags low.

“For our tracking layer bids, we’ve had to use certain class buses for smaller [electro-optical/infrared] sensors,” Schrader explained. “This allows us to actually maybe grow that a little bit to get more coverage for EO/IR type of missions for missile warning [and] missile tracking.”

The satellite bus is also customizable to support different missions — including remote sensing, communications, imagery and radar — as well as orbits and launch configurations, according to the company.

As a common bus, the LM 400 is “going to have a significant amount of componentry that is exactly alike, no matter who the customer is,” Schrader said. “That allows us to go out to our supply chain, be able to cut long-term agreements with them and be able to put something in a shorter amount of build time, as well as get after a more proliferated approach.”

Development of the LM 400 was driven by Ignite, Lockheed Martin’s self-funded innovation unit that conducts experiments both on- and off-orbit as a way to accelerate space technology for potential government customers. The company’s Pony Express 2 tactical satcom and TacSat space-based 5G missions were also conducted under Ignite.

But LM 400’s demonstration is also being done in partnership with Lockheed Martin’s business needs as the company looks to better position itself to use the bus in future bids on government programs. That includes the Space Force’s medium-Earth orbit (MEO) missile warning and tracking constellation, as well as other classified programs for the Defense Department, the intelligence community and international partners, Schrader said.

“This will be ready as soon as we can get contracts for fielding,” he said.

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Space Systems Command (SSC) awarded Millennium, a Boeing subsidiary, a second contract valued at $386 million for the service’s Resilient Missile Warning and Missile Tracking – MEO (MEO MW/MT) effort. Under both the new agreement and one previously given to the firm in 2023, Millennium will deliver a total of 12 space vehicles for the first phase of the program, known as Epoch 1.

“Once on orbit, Epoch 1 satellites will play a vital role in delivering advanced missile warning and tracking capabilities,” Lt. Col. Nathan Terrazone, materiel leader for the Epoch 1 space branch at SSC, said in a statement. “Our commitment is to rapidly deliver operational requirements. Awarding this additional plane lets us do that without skipping a beat.”

The announcement comes after the Space Force discontinued Raytheon’s (RTX) contract for the MEO MW/MT program in June. RTX was originally contracted to build three space vehicles for Epoch 1, but was ultimately dropped from the effort due to significant cost growth, slips in launch schedule and unresolved design challenges experienced by the company, according to SSC.

Millennium initially received a $509.5 million contract in 2023 to build six satellites for the MEO MW/MT program. The six original satellites are on track to deliver by fiscal 2026, and the additional space vehicles are expected to deliver in early fiscal 2028, according to SSC. Once launched, the 12 birds will be split evenly across two orbital planes, a press release noted.

Part of the Space Force’s plan to build a resilient architecture of missile warning and tracking satellites across multiple orbits, the MEO MW/MT constellation is intended to track a range of high-speed missile threats.

Much like the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture in low-Earth orbit, the constellation will be launched in successive phases — or “epochs” — every two-to-three years in order to incrementally build operational capabilities.

The Epoch 1 space vehicles will serve as the constellation’s baseline architecture, while its follow-on Epoch 2 will deliver initial warfighting capability in early fiscal 2029, according to SSC. The service released a request for proposal for Epoch 2 in August, seeking up to 18 satellites that will “provide the nation with expanded global tracking capability to counter hypersonic and other advanced missile threats,” an SSC press release stated.

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Space Systems Command (SSC) dropped Raytheon from the Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking — MEO (MEO MW/MT) program in May due to significant cost growth, slips in launch schedule and unresolved design challenges experienced by the company. Raytheon was originally contracted in 2021 to build three space vehicles for the missile-warning constellation’s first batch of satellites, known as Epoch 1.

As SSC prepares to launch the remaining Epoch 1 systems and receives proposals for the subsequent Epoch 2 space vehicles, officials are exploring how to make up for the capability lost by dropping Raytheon from the contract, Col. Rob Davis, PEO for the command’s space sensing directorate, said Wednesday during a media roundtable at AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber conference.

“We have plans to go ahead and make sure we don’t have a loss of capability in Epoch 1. We expect to have equivalent capabilities in the requirements being satisfied with Epoch 1,” Davis said. “Flowing into Epoch 2, that [request for proposals] is on the street. We’re tracking that, eagerly waiting to get those back and seeing where that takes us to finish out the initial warfighting capability of that constellation.”

The MEO MW/MT constellation is being developed to track high-speed missiles from medium-Earth orbit (MEO) as part of the Space Force’s plans to build a resilient architecture of missile warning and missile-tracking satellites across multiple orbits.

SSC is leveraging a spiral development model for the program by developing and fielding the systems in “epochs” that each deliver incremental capability — similar to the strategy used by the Space Development Agency for its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The intent is to have the MEO MW/MT constellation work with the PWSA birds in low-Earth orbit and other satellites in higher orbits to track advanced missile threats from space.

Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems was also contracted in 2021 to build six satellites for the constellation. Later in 2023, L3Harris received an award to complete sensor payload design for Epoch 1. SSC expects to launch the six Epoch 1 vehicles — which will provide initial missile-warning capability — by 2027.

Bob Fitzpatrick, vice president of requirements and capabilities at Raytheon, told DefenseScoop that moving forward, the company is able to carry the development work it did on Epoch 1 into its proposal for future phases of the MEO MW/MT program.

“We actually worked hand in hand with [SSC] to really develop a good point to kind of bring it to closure, because we saw how much it was going to do for our business but equally for what they wanted to do,” Fitzpatrick said Tuesday on the sidelines of the AFA conference. “It actually turned out to be very positive for both of us, and we are now looking at leveraging that technology for the Epoch 2 series.”

In August, SSC released a request for prototype proposals for development and procurement of up to 18 space vehicles for Epoch 2. The satellites will build upon the Epoch 1 birds and be able to track advanced hypersonic and ballistic missile threats, according to the solicitation.

Davis noted that the Epoch 2 platforms will carry “in-plane, vendor-specific crosslinks,” meaning the space vehicles will only be able to share data and communicate with those made by the same company located in MEO. Once the contracts are awarded, it’s possible SSC will look into an additional crosslink to advance the technology.

“From a tech maturation [standpoint], we’re really looking to Epoch 3 to have that technology ready to support where we really want to get to — that point where we’re meshing between vendors,” Davis said.

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Space Systems Command notified Raytheon of the discontinuation in May and held a design closure event earlier this month, an SSC spokesperson said in an email. The service decided to drop the company from the program “because the RTX Epoch 1 development effort was facing significant cost growth from the original agreement baseline, projecting slips to the launch schedule, and had unresolved design challenges,” they added.

Raytheon received an other transaction agreement in 2021 to design digital models of three space vehicles for Epoch 1 of the MEO MW/MT program. The planned constellation is intended to track high-speed missiles from medium-Earth orbit (MEO), and is part of the Space Force’s plan to build a resilient architecture of missile-warning satellites in multiple orbits. 

Similar to the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), the MEO MW/MT satellites are being developed in phases — referred to as “epochs” — that are designed to deliver the latest capabilities in increments. Raytheon is also contracted with SDA to build satellites for Tranche 1 of the PWSA’s missile tracking layer, which will be launched into low-Earth orbit.

“RTX remains committed to supporting the U.S. Space Force now and in the future,” a company spokesperson said in a statement when asked to comment on RTX’s discontinuation from the Epoch 1 effort.

Boeing-subsidiary Millennium Space Systems received a contract at the same time as Raytheon in 2021, to design six satellites for the constellation. In June 2023, L3Harris became the third vendor for Epoch 1 when the Space Force awarded it a one-year contract for sensor payload design.

The service announced in November that the six satellites from Millennium passed space system critical design review, and the SSC spokesperson noted the company also achieved CDR for its ground segments in March. In addition, L3Harris completed critical design review for its infrared sensor payload designed for Epoch 1 in May, according to the company.

The SSC spokesperson noted that the decision to remove Raytheon from the program has not impacted the other vendors nor the program’s schedule to launch the satellites sometime in 2026 or 2027.

To replace the three scrapped space vehicles, the Space Force now plans to either build additional space vehicles from another vendor contracted for Epoch 1 or through its upcoming competition for Epoch 2, the next iteration of the MEO MW/MT constellation.

A request for proposal for Epoch 2 of MEO MW/MT is expected to be released in July, according to the spokesperson.

“We are still on path to deliver to our Epoch 1 goals to provide an initial missile tracking capability, prototype several key technologies, and refine operational concepts in MEO,” they said. “The MEO program has done an outstanding job of creating a sustained competitive environment, allowing us to execute this action without compromising our ability to meet the requirement to provide a resilient missile warning and tracking capability for the nation.”

News of the service dropping a vendor emerged in the detailed funding tables of House appropriators’ fiscal 2025 defense spending bill, first published by Politico on Monday. Lawmakers proposed a $75 million decrease in funds allocated due to “MEO vendor termination,” as well as an additional $10 million drop for “Epoch 2 ops and integration early to need” and another $10 million cut for “management services excess to need,” the documents show.

In total, House appropriators allocated $750 million in research and development dollars for the MEO MW/MT program. The Space Force had originally asked for $846 million in its budget request for fiscal 2025.

Along with the MEO MW/MT program cuts, House appropriators’ proposal would pare down the Space Force’s fiscal 2025 budget to $28.7 billion — around $900 million less than what the service requested in March, and about 5 percent less than what the Space Force was allocated in fiscal 2024.

The House defense appropriations bill must be reconciled with the Senate version during conference before becoming law, so it remains to be seen how much funding will ultimately be approved by Congress.

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The successful review paves the way for six systems made by Boeing’s Millennium Space Systems — part of Epoch 1 of the service’s Resilient Missile Warning and Missile Tracking – MEO (MEO MW/MT) program — to move into production. Those satellites are on track to be launched in late 2026, according to a Space Systems Command press release.

“We are rolling out these capabilities as fast as possible. The design is maturing very well and once on-orbit, will be instrumental in delivering some of our early missile warning and missile tracking capabilities,” Col. Heather Bogstie, senior materiel leader of SSC’s resilient missile warning, tracking and defense (MWTD) acquisition delta, said in a statement.

The MEO MW/MT constellation is part of a larger effort to create a space architecture that is able to detect dim or high-speed objects, such as hypersonic missiles that can fly faster than Mach 5 and are highly maneuverable.

To do so, the Pentagon is shifting away from launching expensive satellites in higher orbital regimes and instead focusing on proliferating systems in low- and medium-Earth orbits. 

Similar to the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, the MEO MW/MT effort is being developed in phases — referred to as “epochs” — that are designed to deliver the latest capabilities in increments.

The satellites that have passed critical design review are part of Epoch 1, which overall will “consist of up to nine” space vehicles and is intended to “lay the foundation for ground operations and communications infrastructure,” according to an SCC press release. 

“We aim to deliver resilient, integrated MW/MT solutions from MEO to counter emerging hypersonic and other missile threats,” Bogstie said. “Executing on our mission to field combat-ready forces is why this architecture is crucial for safeguarding the nation and its allies, providing regional global missile defense capabilities, and operating in a contested environment.”

Boeing’s Millenium Space Systems and Raytheon each received contracts in January for the Epoch 1 prototypes, and budget documents for fiscal 2024 indicated that the Space Force plans to buy three space vehicles from Raytheon and six from Millenium. In June, L3Harris became the third potential vendor for Epoch 1 when it received a one-year contract for sensor payload design. 

Although Space Systems Command did not specify in its release Monday which vendors completed critical design review or which six space vehicles would move into production, Millennium Space announced Monday that it had passed the review for the program and is preparing for “production and integration.”

“Following completion of the space vehicle CDR, SSC exercised contract options for space vehicles two and three and the sole-source award for space vehicles four through six,” a company press release stated.

In a statement to DefenseScoop on Tuesday,  Lt. Col. Nathan Terrazone, materiel leader in SSC’s Space Sensing Resilient Missile Warning Epoch 1 program office, said: “Millennium Space Systems has passed CDR and will commence production of their six Epoch 1 space vehicles. Space Systems Command & Raytheon continue to work together to complete Raytheon’s remaining CDR actions and move forward on production of the remaining three Epoch 1 space vehicles.”

Along with the initial missile warning and missile-tracking capabilities, Epoch 1 will serve as prototypes for subsequent epochs — planned for every two to three years. SSC plans to award contracts for Epoch 2 in late 2024 or early 2025, according to a report from Breaking Defense.

Updated on Nov. 28, 2023 at 12:40 PM: This story has been updated to include comment from Lt. Col. Nathan Terrazone at Space Systems Command.

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