Military & Defense
US Space Force awards six CASR agreements to build a commercial space-surveillance reserve
The Space Systems Command has awarded six agreements under the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR), creating the initial commercial surge capability in space domain awareness for the US Joint Force.
The US Space Force is building a “reserve” it does not own: commercial companies that commit to making extra space-surveillance capacity available when needs spike. On Thursday, October 22, 2026, the service’s Space Systems Command (SSC) announced that the CASR programme, the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, has awarded six purchase agreements. They form the initial surge capability in space domain awareness (SDA) for the US Joint Force.
Space domain awareness means knowing what is in orbit, where it is and what it is doing. It is needed both for hazards, such as debris from broken-up satellites, and for threats from other space assets.
CASR falls under the Commercial Space Office (COMSO) of the SSC and is modelled on the US Air Force’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF). It rests on pre-negotiated agreements that give the Department of War guaranteed access to commercial capacity in a crisis or conflict. Participation is voluntary, for companies with active contracts with the department, and the contracts set the legal, financial and operational protocols under which government requirements get priority in emergencies, while providers are compensated for their readiness.
The six agreements were awarded through the ACCESS contract, part of the contract framework of the General Services Administration (GSA). Through it, Joint Commercial Operations (JCO) buys commercial data and data-fusion services, that is, the combining of information from different sources into one picture, from many providers. The selected providers were evaluated by the US government and agreed to make capabilities available for the CASR SDA surge mission.
From wargame to contracts
In periods of heightened demand, the participating providers will make the agreed SDA capabilities available for JCO requirements, with commercial assets operating alongside government systems. One scenario in CASR’s second wargame, on July 8 and 9, 2025 in Colorado Springs, was based on the 2024 breakup of the Intelsat 33e communications satellite into at least 20 pieces, and examined how much additional capacity is needed when space assets are lost in geosynchronous (GEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO).
The exercise highlighted the need for clear activation criteria, strong incentives for commercial partners and better information sharing. Lt. Col. Brandon Galindo, chief of the CASR branch at the SSC in 2025, had said the SSC aims to have “Tier 1” (basic day-to-day operation and contracts for surge) running by 2026, while full activation in a crisis would be a “Tier 2” scenario.
Col. Timothy Trimaillo, director of the Commercial Space Office, called CASR a “first-of-its-kind effort” to integrate mature commercial capabilities into government architectures when a mission requires additional capacity. “Commercial providers bring diverse technical strengths and business models. That diversity is an asset,” he said. Space domain awareness is one of the areas where the service wants more commercial integration to meet urgent needs of the fighting forces.
The SSC, which manages an annual procurement budget of $15.6 billion for the Department of War, will use the lessons to refine a repeatable approach and will look at other mission areas as requirements mature and approvals are in place. Companies that want to join CASR’s supplier pool can contact the Space Force’s digital “USSF Front Door” portal.
