NRO Awards Stage 2 Strategic Commercial Enhancements Deals to Spire Global, Kleos Space

The National Reconnaissance Office has exercised two-year stage 2 options on existing contracts with satellite operators Kleos Space and Spire Global under the Strategic Commercial Enhancements broad agency announcement program, which aims to identify private-sector providers of space-based capabilities such as image collection, remote sensing and hyperspectral data.

Kleos is expected to test the accuracy of its radio frequency geolocation data and the end-to-end latency of its architecture. Meanwhile, Spire said it would continue providing NRO with data to assess how commercial radio frequency can integrate into overhead infrastructure.

Both companies initially worked on data collection modeling and simulation alongside Aurora Insight, HawkEye 360, PredaSAR and Umbra Lab. With stage 1 of the SCE program, NRO’s objective was to improve its understanding of commercially available data, SpaceNews reported Monday.

In July 2022, space-based RF imagery providers were asked by NRO to submit proposals to provide such capabilities. The agency said it wanted to learn how commercial RF could support its signals intelligence requirements.