Saturday, November 6, 2021

America's National Reconnaissance Office Wants Satellite Imagery From Commercial Providers

Satellite imagery shows crowds of people gathered on the tarmac at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan as thousands of people try to exit the country. (Courtesy of Maxar Technologies)  

Defense News: National Reconnaissance Office wants satellite imagery from commercial providers 

WASHINGTON — The National Reconnaissance Office is turning to industry for more satellite imagery, issuing a Nov. 3 request for proposals that could see contracts awarded in early 2022. 

The NRO has long been charged with developing, building and operating the nation’s fleet of spy satellites, but it was only recently made responsible for acquiring satellite imagery from commercial providers. That task had been the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s job, but the responsibility was passed to the NRO in 2017. 

The NRO then began looking into how commercial services could best fulfill the intelligence community’s needs, issuing several study contracts beginning in 2019 that allowed the agency to assess commercially available capabilities.  

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WNU Editor: Like SpaceX is to NASA, Maxar Technologies is to NRO.

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