WASHINGTON — Slingshot Aerospace, a company specializing in satellite data analytics, received a $1.9 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to advance technologies for detecting electronic interference targeting GPS signals.
The Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research contract, awarded through the Space Force’s SpaceWERX innovation arm, will focus on the use of artificial intelligence tools to identify potential threats to GPS signals.
Slingshot’s platform analyzes data from thousands of partner satellites in orbit, creating what amounts to a global surveillance network for GPS jamming activities. These satellites passively collect signal degradation data, enabling the system to generate near-real-time maps of interference patterns worldwide.
“We’re focused on delivering actionable intelligence faster through predictive analytics,” Tim Solms, CEO of Slingshot Aerospace, said Jan. 15.
The company is not disclosing which partner satellites are participating in this project.
Slingshot uses an AI model called Agatha, originally developed under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract. The model was designed to identify unusual behavior in satellite constellations, and is being adapted to distinguish between accidental interference and deliberate jamming or spoofing attempts.
The Phase 2 contract builds on Slingshot’s earlier Phase 1 award from 2021, reflecting growing government interest in protecting Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). These systems, which include the U.S. GPS network, Europe’s Galileo system and others, provide essential positioning and timing data that undergird modern military operations and civilian infrastructure. The Space Force’s investment comes as GPS interference incidents have increased worldwide.
