U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) has awarded a $2.9 million contract to Raft LLC for the development of an Application Programming Interface (API) Gateway through the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) Other Transaction Authority (OTA).
The API Gateway is an enhancement tool that expands data accessibility and enables interoperability with the Unified Data Library (UDL), which is a cloud based, multi-classification repository that serves as a central hub for accessing and managing data to support U.S. Space Force operational systems.
Many producers of data in the U.S. Space Force have legacy data messaging formats that cannot be read by modern API endpoints making much of this data unusable. An API gateway addresses this issue by transforming and translating legacy and some current data messaging formats into modern API endpoints. This capability is also automated, which enables these functions to be performed in real-time thus making data more accessible, available, and usable for military purposes at the speed of need.
This effort reflects the Department of Defense’s (DoD) effort to “rapidly deliver scaled digital capabilities and evolve our systems faster than our adversaries can adapt in the battlefield” by delivering a capability that speeds access and use of critical data. It also advances the USSF’s FY 2025 Data and Artificial Intelligence Strategic Action Plan’s line of effort to “Rapidly Adopt Data, Advanced Analytics, and AI Technologies” as well as helps complete a major objective to “integrate partner data and AI capabilities into the USSF data eco-system.”
The delivery of innovative tools like the API Gateway is key to providing our warfighters with accessible and actionable data faster than ever before,” said USSF Lt. Col. Dan Kimmich, Global Mission Data Dominance (GMDD) Materiel Leader for SSC’s Battle Management, Command, Control, and Communication and Space Intelligence’s (BMC3I) Program Executive Office (PEO). “This capability strengthens our ability to connect legacy systems with modern applications, thus enhancing mission readiness and turning the Digital Space Force Vision into reality.”
This effort also embodies recent guidance from the Secretary of Defense on “Directing Modern Software Acquisition to Maximize Lethality,” which directs the maximum use of OTAs to acquire software for military purpose, ensuring warfighters benefit from rapid and scalable digital capabilities. The use of OTAs streamlines development timelines and fosters partnerships with commercial innovators. This award also supports the broader acquisition strategy for the UDL which entered into the Software Acquisition Pathway in November 2024. The API Gateway ensures compatibility with the UDL’s infrastructure and supports BMC3I’s overarching mission to quickly get quality data, to the right decision maker, at the right time, for multi-domain warfighting.
The API Gateway is managed by SSC’s GMDD branch within the BMC3I PEO in partnership with the SpEC.
About SSC
SSC is the USSF’s field command responsible for acquiring, developing, and delivering resilient capabilities to protect our nation’s strategic advantage in, from, and to space. SSC manages a $15.6 billion space acquisition budget for the Department of Defense and works in partnership with joint forces, industry, government agencies, academic, and allied organizations to outpace emerging threats. Our actions today are making the world a better space for tomorrow.
About SpEC
The Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) was created in 2017 to bridge the cultural gap between military buyers and commercial space startups and small businesses through Other Transaction Authorities (OTA). The OTA innovative contracting process allows SpEC to solicit bids from a mix of member companies including companies that have not previously done work with the Department of Defense. SSC recently awarded management of the SpEC OTA to NSTXL to expedite the contracting between government and industry. NSTXL is focused on building a network of innovators and creators across the most sought-after emerging technology fields.