Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS) has been awarded a contract valued at a maximum of $116.7 million over five years to create and operate an Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure (AFCGI) for the U.S. Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Advanced Fire Control (AFC) program — the AFC will deliver integrated space and ground elements to demonstrate advanced fire control missions for missile defense.
Advanced fire control brings highly sophisticated systems for space-based sensing. These systems enable precise, real-time coordination for tracking operations in space for effective responses to threats. Among its applications, the AFCGI will support SDA’s Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter program, also known as FOO Fighter or F2, which is tasked with detecting and tracking advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missiles.
As the AFCGI prime contractor, Kratos will lead a team of partner companies to:
- Deliver and manage ground segment resources, including ground entry points and terrestrial network connections;
- Fit-out and manage a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility called the Demonstration Operations Center;
- Manage a government-procured, contractor-operated cloud environment to provide cloud services, including hosting space vehicle mission operations center software and interfacing with mission partner systems; and,
- Provide program management, systems engineering, integration, verification, and operations and maintenance of the AFC ground infrastructure.
Members of the Kratos-led team include ASRC Federal Systems Solutions, LLC, Peraton, Inc., Sphinx Defense, Inc. and Stellar Solutions, Inc.
Core to the AFCGI, Kratos will provide a Ground Resource Manager (GRM) which will be built for the FOO Fighter program and designed to support any future fire control demonstrations. Built upon Kratos’s OpenSpace Ground Platform, the GRM will ensure interoperability to support new space vehicles built by multiple manufacturers from multiple AFC constellations.
OpenSpace is an orchestrated, software-defined and cloud-native platform based on accepted industry standards. With it, these satellite manufacturers will be able to synchronize their Command and Control (C2) missions into the AFCGI infrastructure, and new network elements and software applications will integrate seamlessly into the AFCGI. The GRM will act as the hub for the AFC constellations, serving to demonstrate modern capabilities as they evolve to support increasingly sophisticated operational programs.
Phil Carrai, President of Kratos’ Space Division, said, “Advancements in missile technology and hypersonics that can travel at more than 3000 mph present new adversarial threats and will require new defensive capabilities to identify, track and respond to them rapidly. The AFCGI will serve as a standing sandbox for exploring and validating new technologies, solutions and techniques to address these threats with commensurate speed and agility. The GRM will enable the Space Force to capitalize on best of breed technologies from across the most advanced developers, and seamlessly integrate and orchestrate their operations.”
