Orbital Insight won a $2 million NGA award for their “Project Aegir” maritime surveillance capabilities contract. Project Aegir is NGA’s response to the increasing requirements for near real-time access to commercial and unclassified intelligence. This pilot funding is focused on commercial techniques for identifying, monitoring and tracking illicit maritime activity in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) Area of Responsibility (AOR). This project is not surprising to me since in the past, NGA has come under critique for the classification of analysis and imagery proving to be a barrier to information sharing at the warfighter edge.
Orbital Insight is a small California-based geospatial analytics company, specializing in satellite, drone, balloon and unmanned aerial vehicle imagery. Orbital Insight is now a subsidiary of Privateer. Over the 5 months following the contract award, Orbital Insight will conduct pilot testing of their proposed solution and capabilities. Part of the data that is being proposed to be analyzed, includes cell phone geolocation – in order to study human activities.
None of the press releases detail any of the cybersecurity concerns. This is not surprising since commercially available or unclassified data is generally left out of the cybersecurity conversation. I am not saying that this is the case here. Obviously, Orbital Insight and Privateer have a stake in securing their solution and platform, in terms of intellectual property. But how does that level transmit across the multiple layers of non-standard platforms, from NGA to the tactical edge – where this data is crucial?
Sources:
1. https://breakingdefense.com/2024/07/orbital-insight-nabs-nga-pilot-for-commercial-maritime-awareness-data/
2. https://www.nga.mil/news/NGA_selects_Orbital_Insight_for_first_Commercial_S.html
3. https://spacenews.com/orbital-insight-wins-nga-contract-for-maritime-surveillance-in-indo-pacific-region/
4. https://potomacofficersclub.com/nga-taps-orbital-insight-for-maritime-surveillance-solution/
5. https://www.orbitalinsight.com/