WASHINGTON – Slingshot Aerospace has won a $69.2 million U.S. Space Force contract to develop an artificial intelligence-based training environment that will allow military operators to rehearse satellite defense missions and respond to simulated adversary actions in orbit.
The four-and-a-half-year Small Business Innovation Research Phase 3 contract supports the service’s Operational Test and Training Infrastructure program, or OTTI, an effort to give Space Force units more realistic tools to test systems and prepare personnel for increasingly complex operations in space.
Slingshot said July 15 that it would provide an AI-enabled environment in which Space Force operators can rehearse scenarios involving the safety and defense of U.S. space systems, compare potential responses, and practice decision-making under real conflict-like conditions.
The award reflects the Pentagon’s interest in using artificial intelligence to not only analyze large amounts of data, but also improve the way military personnel train for fast-moving operational scenarios. In the space domain, where satellites can maneuver, disrupt communications or approach other spacecraft, training systems must take into account an adversary whose behavior may change during practice.
Slingshot, based in Windsor, Colorado, specializes in satellite tracking and orbital data analysis. The company has applied those capabilities to training devices designed to prepare Space Force personnel to operate in competitive space environments.
Under the contract, Slingshot said it will provide a “high-fidelity, AI-enabled environment where they can rehearse security and rescue scenarios, evaluate courses of action and accelerate decision-making under realistic operational conditions.”
The program is built around TALOS, short for Thinking Agent for Logical Operations and Strategy. Slingshot describes TALOS as an AI-powered training and tactics agent that can act as an autonomous virtual opponent during exercises.
Rather than following a predetermined script, TALOS is designed to simulate how another spacecraft might maneuver, respond to an operator’s actions or intervene in a mission. That approach is intended to make exercises less predictable and force trainees to adjust their decisions as scenarios evolve.
“TALOS models realistic spacecraft behavior, generates strategic response options, processes large amounts of complex data, and supports mission rehearsals in constantly evolving space scenarios,” the company said.
The technology was initially developed through an earlier SBIR contract.
The Space Force faces a particular training challenge because many potential conflict scenarios in orbit cannot be safely or routinely reproduced using real spacecraft. Operators must be prepared to identify unusual satellite activities, assess whether they pose a threat and determine how to respond without escalating a collision or disrupting other missions.
Digital training environments could allow those events to be simulated without putting operational satellites at risk. They can also be updated as new threats, tactics, and spacecraft capabilities emerge, rather than requiring trainers to build each scenario around a fixed sequence of events.
