{"id":541603,"date":"2026-03-24T03:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T03:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/541603\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T03:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T03:48:07","slug":"space-force-anticipates-first-kronos-c2-contracts-in-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/541603\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Force anticipates first Kronos C2 contracts in April"},"content":{"rendered":"

SATELLITE 2026 \u2014 The Space Force intends to begin issuing first contracts next month for its new(ish) Kronos project designed to modernize its operational command and control (C2) and battle management software for space domain awareness<\/a>, according to a spokesperson for Space Systems Command (SSC). <\/p>\n

Planning for Kronos was quietly initiated last May, when SSC revamped its Space Command and Control program \u2014 separating Kronos out into a separate effort to run alongside the long-troubled Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System (ATLAS)<\/a> project, which is meant to modernize the software used to manage and process data from the Space Surveillance Network<\/a> of radars and telescopes used to monitor the heavens.<\/p>\n

ATLAS is aimed at providing the baseline capabilities needed to replace the dysfunctional 1980s-era computer system called the Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kronos family of systems is focused on operational command, control, and space battle management, which is fundamentally different from the Atlas family of systems. While both originated from the same legacy program, they were intentionally divided to support distinct mission areas,\u201d the SSC spokesperson explained in an email.<\/p>\n

SSC issued a first Commercial Solutions Opening solicitation last November<\/a>, and held an industry day March 3<\/a> to talk about its areas of interest under Kronos, including: \u201cOperational Command and Control\u201d to support mission planning; \u201cBattle Management\u201d to \u201corchestrate\u201d the use of space domain awareness sensors, deconfliction and tasking; and \u201cSpace Intelligence Integration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those areas of interest differ from the projects three \u201clines of effort,\u201d described in the March 16<\/a> annual report by the Director of the Office of Test & Evaluation (DOT&E), as theater support software, space defense software, and infrastructure and data requirements.<\/p>\n

The next step is to begin issuing awards using Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contract vehicles for the three \u201clines of effort,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe intend to award Other Transactions in a staggered fashion, starting in the first week of April and continuing each month thereafter for the other two lines of effort. This is just the initial prototyping effort; moving forward, we will reopen the Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) and look to award OTAs on a regular cadence to continue building capabilities across the three lines of effort,\u201d the SSC spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, according to the DOT&E report, ATLAS is still struggling to reach a minimum capability to allow SPADOC to be commissioned, despite the Space Force\u2019s move to accept it as \u201coperational\u201d last September<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cATLAS, as tested, did not contain the minimum viable capability necessary for SPADOC decommissioning. Testing also revealed deficiencies consistent with system immaturity,\u201d the March report found.<\/p>\n

The SSC spokesperson said, however, that SPADOC is not being used \u201coperationally\u201d today, and that \u201cthe decommission plan is in the works.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ATLAS project, initiated in 2018 was designed as part of a larger Space Force effort to replace and improve upon the infamously flawed\u00a0Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) Mission System (JMS)<\/a>. The JMS program began in 2009 to replace SPADOC, but after a decade of effort and not quite $1 billion in spending it\u00a0was killed in 2018<\/a>. <\/p>\n

L3Harris is the prime contractor for ATLAS, although the Space Force itself is serving as systems integrator. The Space Force originally planned for ATLAS to become operational in 2022, but the program has been bedeviled by technical issues and schedule delays \u2014 to the point where then-Air Force Space Acquisition Executive Frank Calvelli in 2023 dubbed it one of the Space Force\u2019s\u00a0three most troubled<\/a>\u00a0programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SATELLITE 2026 \u2014 The Space Force intends to begin issuing first contracts next month for its new(ish) Kronos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[242315,242316,242317,242318,242319,79,193,242320,59548,11716,14931],"class_list":["post-541603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-atlas-software","tag-command-and-control","tag-dote","tag-kronos","tag-satellite-conference-2026","tag-science","tag-space","tag-space-defense-operations-center-spadoc","tag-space-domain-awareness-sda","tag-space-force","tag-space-systems-command"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}