The National Reconnaissance Office’s commercial space office, led by Pete Muend, revealed plans to establish a flexible contracting pipeline for incorporating the latest innovations from private remote sensing companies. At the GEOINT Symposium, Muend emphasized the need for commercial imagery to supplement national systems and address the increasing demand from military and intelligence agencies for Earth observation data. The office intends to introduce a new contracting vehicle with an open-ended rolling environment that can accommodate various types of imagery, such as electro-optical or synthetic aperture radar.
Unlike the NRO’s traditional acquisition approach, which focused on specific imagery phenomenologies, this new initiative aims to integrate multiple commercial capabilities seamlessly into the government’s broader architecture. Muend also mentioned finalizing plans for a large procurement dedicated to commercial synthetic aperture radar imagery, known as the “radar commercial layer.” While decisions have yet to be made, the NRO is actively engaging in discussions regarding this initiative, which would follow the successful electro-optical commercial layer contract awarded to Maxar, Planet, and BlackSky in 2022.
According to Brett Scott, who heads the NRO’s Geospatial Intelligence Information Systems Acquisition Directorate, there is a concerted effort to leverage cutting-edge technologies in the commercial space industry and incentivize companies properly to promote innovation. The goal is to create a more efficient and effective way of acquiring these systems to benefit both industry and the government.