The Space Development Agency has awarded a $64 million contract to Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) to develop a cloud-based software applications factory for the agency’s low Earth orbit constellation. The contract is for the agency’s BMC3 application factory, which is the on-orbit data processing and computing system for the Transport Layer of communications satellites. SAIC will not build an actual factory but a cloud-based development process to design, test and update software applications using a repeatable path. The system also has to provide extra layers of cybersecurity to protect classified information. The BMC3 software applications will be developed by multiple vendors.
As reported in SpaceNews, the Space Development Agency (SDA) has awarded a $64 million contract to Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) to develop a software applications factory for the agency’s low Earth orbit constellation. The BMC3 application factory will be the on-orbit data processing and computing system for the Transport Layer of communications satellites that the SDA plans to deploy over the next several years.
The BMC3 software applications will be developed by multiple vendors. SAIC will not build an actual factory but a cloud-based development process to design, test, and update software applications using a repeatable path. The system also has to provide extra layers of cybersecurity to protect classified information.
SDA, an organization under the U.S. Space Force, is building a layered network of military satellites. The Transport Layer will serve as a tactical network to move data to users around the world, communicating classified data such as early warnings of missile launches. The constellation, which SDA calls the proliferated warfighter space architecture, includes a Transport Layer of interconnected communications satellites and a Tracking Layer of missile-detection and warning sensor satellites.
Michael LaRouche, president of SAIC’s national security and space sector, said the company’s cloud-based solution “will deliver software through a DevSecOps process to a constellation of hundreds of low Earth orbit satellites.” This approach “weaves together command and control, secure cloud, and space systems integration,” he said in a news release.
To support time-sensitive operations, BMC3 software applications will process data on orbit and manage the dissemination of data to users. The applications factory also has to be able to quickly test and integrate upgraded software on satellites.
SAIC has to provide a so-called “secure interoperable middleware” layer to protect software from cyber intrusions. SDA requires the contractor to “establish software development capabilities to securely and rapidly field mission applications developed by BMC3 ecosystem participants in support of Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) objectives.”
JADC2 is the Defense Department’s strategy to integrate all domains of warfare, including space, into a single network. The SDA’s low Earth orbit constellation is expected to play a crucial role in this effort.
With that being said, SAIC has been awarded a $64 million contract to develop a software applications factory for the SDA’s low Earth orbit constellation. The BMC3 application factory will be the on-orbit data processing and computing system for the Transport Layer of communications satellites. SAIC will not build an actual factory but a cloud-based development process to design, test, and update software applications using a repeatable path. The system also has to provide extra layers of cybersecurity to protect classified information.
