Space Innovation, Integration and Rapid Technology Development

The Space Innovation, Integration, and Rapid Technology Development (SIIRTD) program element, managed by the U.S. Space Force (USSF) under the Air Force's Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation, is designed to deliver enterprise capabilities that enhance combat readiness and secure space domain superiority. The primary goal of SIIRTD is to develop, integrate, and rapidly field advanced training, modeling, and simulation solutions that address evolving threats and operational requirements in the space domain. The program supports both operational system development and upgrades for systems that have already been fielded or approved for full-rate production. This ensures that USSF forces maintain a technological edge.

Enterprise Training Services Development (ETSD) is a major project within SIIRTD, focused on providing operationally realistic space combat training capabilities. ETSD delivers a system-of-systems architecture that supports the generation, assessment, and sustainment of Guardian lethality, in accordance with the USSF Operational Test and Training Infrastructure (OTTI) Strategic Requirements Document. The project's objectives include developing mission-specific simulators, threat-representative models, synthetic digital environments for distributed training, and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to augment training scenarios. These capabilities enable Guardians to train against realistic, responsive threats and to develop tactics in environments that closely mirror real-world conditions.

In FY 2026, ETSD will leverage Commercial Solutions Openings (CSO) to enhance and scale distributed training capabilities. This will allow Guardians to achieve mastery in combat skills both at the mission-specific level and in service-level exercises. Planned activities include continued integration of mission simulator software, further development and deployment of AI-based aggressor augmentation, and the delivery of new simulators for Orbital Warfare. The program also supports risk reduction, prototyping, and the provisioning of network infrastructure necessary to deliver advanced training capabilities. These efforts are designed to respond rapidly to emerging adversarial threats and to ensure system resiliency and situational awareness in contested space environments.

Space Analysis and Application Development (SA&AD) is another key component of SIIRTD, tasked with developing and modifying modeling and simulation tools for operational analysis and assessment. Located at Peterson Space Force Base, SA&AD supports USSF and Space Operations Command by providing analytic rigor for senior leader decision-making, operational assessments, and the development of digital headquarters data standards. The project's objectives include updating and validating models to reflect new capabilities, conducting operational analysis for space mission areas, and supporting readiness and force generation activities through data-driven recommendations.

SA&AD's planned accomplishments for FY 2025 and FY 2026 include deploying campaign and mission area tools and integrating these tools into major theater exercises. The project will provide near real-time status updates of space forces to commanders and continue to support the assessment of space force generation processes. Additional efforts involve developing automated decision support tools, enhancing data-driven analysis for operational units, supporting the development of applications for conjunction assessment, satellite maneuver analysis, and logistics sustainment, and implementing sentiment analysis to accelerate readiness assessments.

The SIIRTD program element also includes funding for necessary civilian pay expenses to manage and deliver ETSD and SA&AD capabilities, supplementing other program elements as needed. Acquisition strategies for both ETSD and SA&AD emphasize the use of competitive procedures and partnerships with commercial, U.S. Government, and international entities to maximize innovation and agility. Contracts are awarded through a mix of competitive and sole-source methods, including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) initiatives, to ensure rapid execution and continuity of effort.