$981 million and 15 vendors: the Space Force has created a five‑year contract pool intended to accelerate development of training capabilities for Guardians who currently lack instructors, facilities and simulators for key missions.
A $981 million pool and 15 vendors
Space Systems Command (SSC) announced that it tapped 15 companies to compete for a $981 million multiple‑award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract vehicle. The awardees named in the announcement are Amentum Technology, BAE Systems, CACI, Firefly Aerospace, L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin Space, Northrup Grumman, Pacific Crest Alliance, Parsons Government Services, Redwire Space Missions, Rocket Lab USA, Sierra Space Corporation, Boeing, Viasat, and York Space Systems.
The vehicle — given the formal name National Space Test and Training Complex (NSTTC) Innovative Technology & Engineering — Space Test and Range (NITE‑STAR) Capability Development — is explicitly designed to “accelerate” development of “advanced” training tools so Guardians “are prepared for engagements against peer adversaries,” according to SSC.
What NITE‑STAR is and who will manage it
SSC’s System Delta 81, the element responsible for delivering capabilities to Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM), will manage the NITE‑STAR contract. The IDIQ is scoped to buy training capabilities over the next five years and is a multiple‑award vehicle, enabling several of the selected vendors to compete for task orders under the pool.
The announcement frames NITE‑STAR as a capability development vehicle rather than a single integrated system purchase; its focus is on producing or fielding advanced training tools and simulators that the service currently lacks in some mission areas.
Operational Test and Tracking Infrastructure (OTTI) and the infrastructure PAE
The NITE‑STAR effort will support the Space Force’s broader work to create an Operational Test and Tracking Infrastructure (OTTI). The OTTI architecture, as described by SSC, is multifaceted: it will include physical infrastructure, simulators and live assets, including spacecraft.
Responsibility for OTTI now falls under the Space Force’s portfolio acquisition executive (PAE) office for infrastructure, signaling that the program is being treated as an infrastructure investment spanning facilities, testbeds and live range assets as well as software and simulation tools.
Where training shortfalls persist — Lt. Gen. Greg Gagnon’s report card
Senior operators have been increasingly vocal about gaps in training capacity. Lt. Gen. Greg Gagnon, head of Combat Forces Command responsible for providing ready forces to US Space Command, told the Mitchell Institute on July 17 that simulators are missing in a number of key mission areas and that he keeps “a report card.”
Gagnon explained why simulators matter: without them, “active systems, such as space tracking radars or GPS satellites, have to be off‑lined to provide training opportunities.” He said he has spent “a lot of time on that in the last seven months with both the chief of space operations, Gen. [Chance] Salzman, and with [Maj. Gen. James Smith], who runs Training and Readiness Command,” and with SSC personnel “to get an assessment of where we are. It’s a mixed bag.”
He characterized missile warning and tracking training as “robust,” giving it “a green checkmark.” Delta 9, the Space Force delta responsible for orbital warfare, he said, “still has to work primarily with ‘real mission equipment,’” but the delta has “resourced the requirement” for simulators and is “on the the glide path to [a] green checkmark.”
By contrast, Gagnon said simulators for the space domain awareness and intelligence deltas “are sorely lacking.” “Both of them are really unique,” he said, describing “a confluence of different unique systems that do precise things, and then we aggregate them.” On those areas, he acknowledged he is “still kind of red‑Xed.”
What this means for STARCOM, SSC, and Guardians
- STARCOM: The command that receives training capabilities is a named beneficiary of NITE‑STAR; task orders under the IDIQ will be used to provide the simulators, live assets and infrastructure STARCOM needs to expand training capacity.
- SSC and System Delta 81: SSC’s Delta 81 will manage the contract vehicle and execute capability deliveries into the OTTI architecture, aligning procurement with the PAE office for infrastructure and the broader operational test and tracking plan.
- Guardians (operators): Operators who today must use live mission systems for training — or go without certain exercises entirely — are the intended end users. The NITE‑STAR pool is aimed at providing simulators and live assets so that units can train without off‑lining operational hardware.
Conclusion: can the IDIQ close the red‑X gaps?
The Space Force has moved to address a plainly stated training deficit with a sizable, multi‑vendor procurement vehicle: a five‑year, $981 million NITE‑STAR IDIQ intended to feed the Operational Test and Tracking Infrastructure. The announcement names an array of major contractors and smaller firms and places program management squarely with SSC’s System Delta 81 and the PAE office for infrastructure. Whether the IDIQ will be sufficient to move the space domain awareness and intelligence deltas from being “red‑Xed” to “green checkmark” status depends on how quickly task orders translate into usable simulators, facilities and live assets — and on whether those deliveries match the unique, aggregated system needs Gagnon described.
