Space Force embraces incremental approach to fielding new missile warning ground segment
AURORA, Colo. — After delivering the first key component of the Space Force’s ground infrastructure for its future missile warning and missile-tracking satellites last year, the service’s acquisition arm is poised to field additional capabilities and updates on an annual basis, according to the program’s executive officer.
The new ground system, known as Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE), is being designed to conduct daily operations and command and control for the Space Force’s Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) constellation, as well as those in the legacy Space-Based Infrared System.
Space Systems Command has already fielded the first key component in the FORGE architecture to operators, and now plans to deliver additional upgrades to the system at least once a year, Col. Rob Davis, PEO for space sensing at SSC, said Tuesday.
“We’re going to continue to deliver not in a big-bang software way, but in more of an agile way. It could be a couple times a year or could be once a year,” Davis told reporters during a roundtable at the annual AFA Warfare Symposium.
After facing developmental woes due to the architecture’s complexity, the command divided FORGE into four separate programs: FORGE framework, FORGE Mission Data Processing Application Framework, FORGE C2 and Relay Ground Stations. The program also includes the Next-Gen Interim Operations effort to create a transition command-and-control solution in the interim.
In April 2024, SSC delivered the Forge framework to the OPIR Battlespace Awareness Center. The technology is operational at the 2nd, 8th and 11th Space Warning Squadrons, as well as the 64th Cyberspace Squadron. The system includes new hardware, computers and an operating system that increases cyber resiliency and offers “enhanced mission applications” for operators, according to the service.
“Why did we do that? One, incremental delivery can bring some things out as we continue down the delivery pipeline. But most importantly was to take advantage of the enhancements in cybersecurity and resiliency that it brings by having that [FORGE framework] there, that was built from the ground up in modern software and cybersecurity practices to bring that resiliency to the ops floor,” Davis said.
Moving forward, Davis said the Space Force expects to deliver the data processing framework — under development by RTX — sometime this summer. The service will then work to field FORGE C2, which is being developed by BAE Systems after the company received a $151 million contract for phase two of the effort on Monday.
Davis emphasized that once all of FORGE’s components are delivered, SSC will continue to upgrade the architecture so that it has the most advanced capabilities.
“We’re always going to be shoulder to shoulder with our operations brothers and sisters, enhancing the system against the threats and keeping the agile software development going to make sure we’re keeping pace with the enemy,” he said.
The new delivery model is helping SSC ensure FORGE — or at least critical parts of it — is delivered on time to support the Space Force’s upcoming missile warning and missile-tracking constellations. In 2023, a report from the Government Accountability Office found that key pieces of the FORGE system were at risk of not being ready until after 2025.
The first two Next-Gen OPIR satellites are slated to launch into geosynchronous orbit sometime in 2026. To make sure there are no delays in operationalizing the sats, FORGE’s Next-Gen Interim Operations component will provide an interim ground segment capability that will eventually transition into the larger FORGE program, Davis said.
“That was necessary for developmental timelines as a risk mitigation, so that we weren’t trying to depend too much on FORGE and setting ourselves up for a challenge there,” he noted.
