Space Force RG-XX bids received as contract award slips to next year

Bids were submitted Monday for the Space Force’s RG-XX geosynchronous Earth orbit inspection satellite delivery order, and the program entered source selection, Courtney Sayles of Scout Space said Oct. 31, 2026 at Silicon Valley Space Week’s MilSat Symposium. She said the contract will not be awarded until next year.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

Sayles put the RG-XX buying cycle at a year and a half to two years from the industry day, she said, with the length tied to continuing resolutions. Despite Andromeda’s roughly $6 billion ceiling, she said she told the government the order may award only two satellites to two or three firms.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

“Two awards once a year is not there for the VCs,” Sayles said. Commercial suppliers want orders of six or 10 satellites with a matching commitment before costs come down, she said, and a pace of two awards per year does not signal venture capitalists.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

Space Systems Command said on Apr. 8, 2026 that 14 companies were chosen from 32 proposals for the $1.843 billion Andromeda contract, which runs for a decade. RG-XX will replace the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program and is the first purchase under the Andromeda vehicle. The RG-XX solicitation was posted in January 2026.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

The 14 awardees include Anduril Industries, Astranis Space Technologies, BAE Systems, General Atomics, Intuitive Machines, L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Millennium Space Systems, Northrop Grumman Systems, Quantum Space, Redwire, Sierra Space, True Anomaly and Turion Space. The list mixes traditional defense primes with smaller commercial space firms.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

The Space Force said on May 4, 2026 that it had raised Andromeda’s ceiling from $1.8 billion to more than $6.2 billion, adding more than $4 billion for urgent orbital-visibility needs in fiscal 2027. The higher ceiling supports both RG-XX and SG-XX.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

The fiscal 2027 request includes $355 million for RG-XX, and planned spending across five years reaches nearly $2.8 billion. Initial launches are set for early fiscal 2029, a second batch is planned for 2030, and spending is projected to peak at about $1 billion in fiscal 2029.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

RG-XX will use the military satellite-control ground stations run by Space Delta 6 at Schriever Space Force Base, cutting the need for additional training. The spacecraft are meant to be more maneuverable than the current GSSAP fleet and to refuel while in orbit. It will be the Space Force’s first next-generation capability to require on-orbit refueling, intended to let satellites move closer to adversary systems.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

Five of the six GSSAP satellites are still working, with four launched from 2014 to 2016 and two in January 2022. Northrop Grumman built the GSSAP satellites, which operate in geosynchronous Earth orbit for rendezvous and proximity operations to monitor and inspect other satellites.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the acting space acquisition chief, said he wants to purchase as many satellites as possible. “My intent bluntly is just to buy as many as possible.” He said 150 companies attended the RG-XX industry day and that funding must be in place before contracts can be awarded.CUSTOM_CITATION_END

Servando Cuellar, who directs programs at Astranis, said he supports the Space Force’s move toward fixed-price contracting. Gregg Burgess, president of Orion Space Solutions, said the government already handles procurement of commercial space situational awareness data from terrestrial tracking systems tied to the National Space Defense Center well.CUSTOM_CITATION_END