- The work prepares the ground segment for two service-life-extension satellites
- Fiscal 2026 research and development funds provide $23.7 million at the time of award
- Boeing is building the two satellites under a separate $2 billion contract
General Dynamics Mission Systems has won a $99.3 million task order to modify the Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS, ground segment to support two service-life-extension satellites.
The cost-plus-award-fee award covers design, upgrade, integration and deployment of the required changes, the Department of War said Friday. Work runs in Scottsdale, Arizona, through Sept. 3, 2028.
The Space Force Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Satellite Communications and Positioning, Navigation and Timing at Los Angeles Air Force Base is the contracting activity. The award was made on a sole-source basis.
Fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funds of $23.7 million were obligated at the time of award.
What Satellites Will the Upgraded Ground Segment Support?
Boeing won a potential $2 billion Air Force contract in June covering design, development and production of two MUOS satellites under Phase II of the service life extension program, along with launch support and on-orbit testing.
Space Systems Command ran a competitive acquisition for that award and received two offers. Boeing’s work in El Segundo, California, runs through Sept. 30, 2035.
The service life extension effort aims to keep the MUOS waveform available worldwide into fiscal 2035 and the supporting ground system into fiscal 2040, according to budget documents cited by Inside Defense. The five MUOS satellites now in geosynchronous orbit were launched between 2012 and 2016.
What Other MUOS Ground Work Does GDMS Hold?
The Space Force awarded the company a $30 million cost-plus-fixed-fee task order in August for MUOS ground resiliency, covering upgrades to ground infrastructure and the network management system over two years.
Space Systems Command issued GDMS a $106 million sustainment and modernization task order in May, with a base and option value of $294.9 million, potentially running through May 2031. A separate $28.4 million task order in April covered integrated logistics, sustainment and modernization support.
General Dynamics has supported MUOS ground infrastructure since at least 2019, when the Navy awarded a potential 10-year, $731.9 million sustainment contract running through November 2029.
