WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is set to award a multiyear, $3 billion contract for commercial data and analytics services to monitor potential threats in the Indo-Pacific region, a focal point of global geopolitics and a priority theater for the Defense Department.
The program, known as the Long Range Enterprise Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Activity (LEIA), seeks to obtain a broad range of business data and advanced AI-based analytics, integrating information from land, air and space platforms.
The LEIA contract is expected to be awarded later this year. This is a full and open competition and multiple companies are expected to compete for the contract award.
The program is coordinated by Special Operations Command Pacific, which supports U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).
The size of the contract reflects the U.S. military’s growing demand for commercial data sources such as imagery satellites and AI-based analytics to track and respond to potential threats. U.S. INDOPACOM in the LEIA RFP highlighted commanders’ needs for rapid ISR and space-based capabilities to maintain situational awareness in the region.
The military’s appetite for AI-powered data analytics comes from the The challenge of information overloadas government agencies have increasing access to data, but not necessarily to information. In response to these needs, the U.S. Space Force launched a pilot program called Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Tracking (TacSRT) designed to leverage commercial space capabilities to rapidly provide intelligence and analysis to military commanders. The program uses a web interface called the Global Data Marketplace to advertise and award short-term surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking contracts with commercial vendors.
The TacSRT program has already supported various U.S. Combatant Command operations in response to earthquakes in Morocco and Japan, floods in Libya, and wildfires in South America.
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