The United States Space Force has awarded a $27 million contract to Slingshot Aerospace to enhance the training of its Guardians through advanced simulations that replicate adversarial actions in orbital warfare scenarios. This initiative will utilize the company’s TALOS AI, designed to simulate realistic responses based on extensive real-world orbital data.
Slingshot’s TALOS AI is trained on a vast library of orbital observations, allowing it to respond dynamically to the trainees’ actions rather than adhering to a set script. According to Tim Solms, CEO of Slingshot Aerospace, this capability ensures that TALOS can adapt to evolving space environments and incorporate new algorithms as they become available. “This latest award is a system-of-systems integration program supporting the Space Force Operational Test and Training Infrastructure (OTTI),” Solms stated in an email to Breaking Defense.
Enhancing Training with Advanced Simulation Tools
The contract, awarded through a Space Force Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO), is part of a streamlined procurement process favored by the Defense Innovation Unit. It builds on a previous 39-month Strategic Funding Increase award, valued at $25 million, which facilitated initial testing of TALOS capabilities by the Space Training and Readiness Command.
In addition to TALOS, Slingshot will provide software tools to simulate both friendly (“Blue”) forces and act as virtual referees (“White”). The integration of these systems aims to create a comprehensive training environment. “Guardians can train in realistic, high-side scenarios with industry-proven Red/White/Blue cell tools,” Solms explained.
Slingshot initially launched TALOS in July 2025 to replicate satellite behaviors in orbit for training and simulations. The AI is designed to learn from real-world operations and adapt as orbital conditions change. “Slingshot tracks roughly 95% of all payload-sized objects across all orbital regimes, from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to extended Geostationary Orbit (xGEO),” Solms noted, emphasizing the extensive data set that supports TALOS’s training.
Data-Driven Insights for Realistic Simulations
The company’s advanced tracking capabilities allow it to monitor objects continuously, day and night, throughout the year. The data generated includes a comprehensive array of derived products such as event detections, patterns of life information, and photometric fingerprints. As Solms pointed out, “The resulting data set represents the largest corpus of commercially available astrometric and photometric data today.”
This initiative reflects a broader trend within military training programs to incorporate advanced technology and data analytics for more effective preparation in an increasingly complex space domain. By leveraging AI, the Space Force aims to ensure its personnel are equipped with the skills needed to navigate and respond to potential threats in space.
