BAE Systems to advance autonomous space-based surveillance technology for DARPA

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded BAE Systems’ FAST Labs research, development, and production organization a $16 million Phase 2 contract for the Oversight program. The Oversight program is focused on creating an autonomous system that keeps track, or maintains constant “custody,” of a large number of terrestrial assets via new satellite constellations.

The award follows the successful completion of the Phase 1 program. During Phase 1, BAE Systems’ software was integrated into a modeling and simulation environment to demonstrate a custody mission on representative satellite and sensor models. In Phase 2, BAE Systems will mature its solution algorithms and demonstrate operation with increasingly larger constellations, more complex scenarios, and higher fidelity modeling and simulation environments. The technology will be physically deployed to both tactical-edge satellites and ground stations.