SDA Awards Iridium, GDMS $324M Contract for Building Satellite Ground Control Component

Virginia-headquartered Iridium Communications announced that, together with General Dynamics Mission Systems, it has been awarded a $324.5 million contract by the Space Development Agency to establish the ground operations component of an upcoming satellite constellation. The deal primarily calls for building the ground entry points and operations centers for the National Defense Space Architecture, Iridium said Thursday.

In a statement, the satellite communications company said that the SDA contract comes with a base amount of $163 million and $161.5 million in options.

Specifically, the contract will see Iridium and GDMS building the ground Operations and Integration segment for Tranche 1 of the NDSA. The two winning contractors will also provide network operations and systems integration services for the SDA’s next tranche of proliferated low-earth orbit satellites.

As part of its obligations, the primary contractors, with help from other partners, will “develop, equip, staff, operate and maintain” state-of-the-art, commercial-like operations centers, acquire and operate ground entry points, and lead ground-to-space integration efforts.

Matt Desch, chief executive officer of Iridium, said his company’s 25 years of experience operating in LEO makes it uniquely qualified for this opportunity. The eight-time Wash100 awardee added that Iridium, GDMS and the U.S. government “have a long and successful history of working together.”

For his part, Chris Brady, president of GDMS and three-time Wash100 awardee, said that together with its partners, his company is excited to build the foundation for the SDA’s initial warfighting capability, which will serve as the backbone of the Joint All-Domain Command and Control vision.

The contractors will develop, equip, staff, operate and maintain state-of-the-art, commercial-like operations centers, acquire and operate ground entry points, and lead ground-to-space integration efforts.