The Space Development Agency is hunting for a company to own the software layer beneath its missile-warning ground network. A sources-sought notice posted September 23 asks industry to bid for the role of lead platform integrator across the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture’s ground segment.
The agency calls the effort PEREGRINE Sentry. Responses are due October 23. SDA expects to award an 18-month prototype agreement first, then a production contract with a three-year base period.
The security requirements carry the weight. The contractor would build a modular, open-systems ground framework plus a shared development environment that has to satisfy multi-level security and cross-domain rules and hold a continuous authority to operate. DevSecOps automation, machine learning operations and onboarding of third-party applications round out the list.
Why the software layer matters
Missile-tracking satellites pass warning data straight to shooters, which makes the downlink chain part of the weapon system rather than a support service. Pulling many vendors’ applications onto one framework concentrates the risk, since a single weak component could reach traffic spanning several classification levels.
SDA wants to modernize the existing ground segment without disrupting live operations, describing the transition as one that must do no harm. The agency is also working under uncertainty about its own future, with Congress weighing legislation that could dissolve it.
