Key Takeaways: Kratos wins $447 million contract with U.S. Space Force to develop a ground management system supporting missile-detecting satellites. This initiative highlights Space Force’s partnerships with industry and underscores the importance of intellectual property strategies for companies engaging in government contracts.
On March 17, 2026, the U.S. Space Force awarded Kratos Technology & Training Solutions, Inc. (“Kratos”) a $446.8 million follow-on Ground Management Integration (GMI) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) as part of Space Force’s Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking (MWT) Medium Earth’s Orbit (MEO) program.
Under the OTA, Kratos will build the ground system that will initially support two missile-detecting satellite launches, Epoch 1 and Epoch 2, in MEO.
Epoch 1 consists of a constellation of 12 satellites, the first set of which is scheduled to launch in 2027 with the rest by 2028. The Epoch 1 satellites were developed under a contract awarded to Boeing’s Millenium Space Systems. Epoch 2 will add 10 more satellites to the constellation, increasing the capabilities to track missile threats. The Epoch 2 satellites were developed under a contract awarded to BAE Space & Mission Systems and for which designs were recently preliminarily approved, on track for initial launches in 2029.
These awards and initiatives show Space Force’s ongoing collaboration with and amongst industry partners. In relation to Kratos’ award, Space Force’s Col. Joe Silvio, Space Systems Command’s System Delta 84 program manager stated:
“This award exemplifies Space Force initiatives to more aggressively establish an agile acquisition strategy up front to achieve speed, performance and maximize teamwork, not only between the contracting officer and program manager, but with industry as well.”
Companies can view the award to Kratos as a further indication of the opportunities available to deploy defense and aerospace technology with the government in innovative ways. The use of OTAs by the Department of Defense has increased significantly in recent years. Because OTAs are not procurement contracts, the parties have wide discretion in negotiating terms (including IP terms), rather than relying on standard FAR/DFARS clauses. This negotiability can enable faster, iterative, and more collaborative development, and can attract nontraditional participants that might otherwise avoid federal contracting. However, this flexibility also presents new risks. A company looking to engage with the government though an OTA should carefully negotiate the agreement, especially in view of the company’s IP ownership and licensing goals. The company should also establish processes to ensure the IP terms of the OTA are understood and properly followed, particularly where the OTA includes irregular arrangements, to help avoid unintentional loss of IP rights.
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