DARPA taps BAE Systems to develop testbed for space
NewsNovember 14, 2017
RESTON, Va. BAE Systems will develop an innovative space evaluation and analysis testbed under a $12.8 million contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The goal is to create enhanced situational awareness in space by supporting the development, integration, evaluation and analysis of advanced space enterprise command and control (C2) tools and capability technologies.
BAE Systems will utilize its experience in space domain awareness as it works to design and develop a software architecture, which can facilitate the creation of a testbed facility – the Space Enterprise Analysis Capability (SEAC) – that would support the modelling of current and future space situational awareness and C2 technologies. The SEAC would also enable realistic, scenario-based exercises for testing space C2 technologies against sophisticated emerging threats.
BAE Systems’ testbed would support live data feeds from diverse sources and provide strong security and data protection for varying levels of classification, in addition to external interfaces to support air, cyber, land, and sea environments. To meet the goals of the Hallmark program, the BAE Systems team plans to host exercises at the SEAC to collect metrics for Hallmark’s cognitive evaluation team, as well as identify new and improved tools and technologies for potential future use by the Joint Space Operations Center and the National Space Defense Center.
“Military commanders must have superior space domain awareness in order to quickly assess, plan, and execute operations in this increasingly complex environment,” says Mike Penzo, Director of Ground Resiliency and Analytics at BAE Systems. “The Hallmark testbed is designed to help the military quickly evaluate and integrate technologies for space C2.”
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