SDA taps Millennium Space Systems to build experimental FOO Fighter satellites

Millennium Space Systems will build eight satellites for the Space Development Agency’s prototype constellation that aims to provide warfighters with next-generation missile tracking and fire-control capabilities, SDA announced Tuesday.

The agency awarded the Boeing subsidiary an other transaction authority contract worth up to $414 million to build and deliver the platforms, which will be part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture’s (PWSA) Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (FOO Fighter) program. The constellation is slated to be launched into orbit during the first quarter of fiscal 2027.

The satellites will be different from other vehicles in the PWSA’s tracking layer, in that they will be equipped with fire control-quality sensors to address advanced missile threats such as hypersonic weapons.

“The FOO Fighter program will provide an operational demonstration of fire control efforts separate from, but complementary to, our missile warning/missile tracking and missile defense efforts already underway in the tranches,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Millennium, a new teammate in the expanding marketplace of performers innovating to deliver the PWSA for the warfighter.”

Fire control systems are able to create high-fidelity tracking data of incoming threats that includes the exact position and time accuracy needed for a missile defense system to send an interceptor to defeat targets. Incorporating fire control-capable sensors is part of the Space Force’s larger plan to deploy a robust, multi-orbit missile defense architecture in space.

FOO Fighter will be include experimental and demonstration satellites that are independent from the PWSA tracking layer — part of a planned constellation of hundreds of platforms stationed in low-Earth orbit. Tournear has previously indicated that FOO Fighter will address very specific targets not addressed by the PWSA.

Although the initial request for proposals for the vehicles suggested that SDA was open to contracting with more than one vendor for FOO Fighter, Millennium Space Systems will build and deliver all eight satellites. The company will also provide the supporting ground system and perform mission operations, according to a press release from the contractor. 

“Our deep knowledge and understanding of this mission enabled us to engineer the right solution at the right cost, taking advantage of our common sensing vehicle and core components,” CEO Jason Kim said in a statement. “The mission engineering we’ve done is grounded in modeling and simulation exercises, allowing us to understand the payload and its applicability to mission execution.”