By Kurtis Archer | 2026-04-23

The US Space Force (USSF) has awarded contracts worth over $1.8 billion to 14 companies to provide satellite systems that will strengthen its ability to track activity in geosynchronous orbit (GSO) as part of its Andromeda program.

Space Systems Command will manage the contracts over the next decade, overseeing the vendors as they compete for opportunities to design and build spacecraft and systems to support next-generation space domain awareness.

Speaking at the Space Foundation’s 41st Space Symposium on April 15, senior advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy emphasized the importance of accelerating satellite acquisition models.

He noted that the US military's space acquisition processes are keenly focused on delivering integrated, resilient war-fighting capabilities with speed and accountability.

"It’s not enough as acquirers or industry to deliver a satellite, a software piece," he said during a keynote address at the symposium. "You have to deliver the integrated war-fighting capability."

The selected vendors are a mix of established contractors, like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, and newer space and defense firms, including Astranis Space Technologies, Sierra Space and Quantum Space.

This hybrid ecosystem, supported by flexible contracting, serves as a modern template for how the US military can build at speed, according to USSF.

By pairing legacy defense titans like General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems with newer fast-moving innovators, like Redwire Space Missions, Andromeda aims to bridge the gap between massive scale and rapid prototyping.

Surveillance above the skies

Andromeda will focus on space domain awareness by identifying and tracking the behavior of objects in GSO, an area roughly 22,000 miles above Earth that houses many military communications and missile-warning systems satellites.

The initiative signals a move away from an era defined by a few high-cost, vulnerable satellites, toward a more resilient and distributed "neighborhood watch" system across GSO.

Under the new system, satellites will maneuver around other satellites to investigate their activities and provide intelligence that ground-based sensors have a more difficult time obtaining.

Historically, the United States relied on massive, multi-billion-dollar satellite surveillance platforms.

While capable, these legacy platforms represented "single points of failure," meaning that if an adversary disabled one or two satellites it would have an outsize effect on US surveillance operations.

The Andromeda program's proliferated architecture is one of the US military's efforts to resolve this potential vulnerability.

By launching dozens of smaller, cheaper satellites rather than relying on a few large, valuable ones, the USSF aims to ensure the loss of a single unit does not significantly impact the system’s mission.

This "resilience through numbers" approach is intended to make the US orbital presence a much less attractive target for kinetic or electronic warfare attacks.

The Andromeda framework was formerly known as RG-XX (Geosynchronous Reconnaissance and Surveillance).

Next-generation assets are slated to replace the aging Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) fleet, which has supported the current US military surveillance network since 2014.

Task-order flexibility

With the Andromeda program awards, USSF can use an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract structure to bypass the traditional, slower re-competition process.

This flexibility enables planners to issue task orders as needed, allowing for accelerated procurement and integrating designs and maturing technologies as soon as they become ready.

For startups like Astranis and Turion Space, being named an Andromeda prime contractor validates their commercial technology for military use, which often leads to further private funding and facilitates company growth.

The program forces defense giants like Lockheed Martin to compete alongside agile startups, enabling USSF to drive down the cost of space surveillance, potentially saving billions over traditional cost-plus contracting models.

This shift is driven by increasing congestion and risks in GSO.

With China and Russia deploying highly maneuverable satellites capable of close-proximity operations, the US military is prioritizing enhanced situational awareness.

Its stated goal is to achieve a more granular, persistent view of adversary movements in an increasingly contested environment.