The United States Space Force has awarded a contract worth $27 million to Slingshot Aerospace to enhance the training of its personnel, known as Guardians. This initiative will leverage the company’s TALOS AI technology to simulate adversary actions during orbital warfare exercises. The aim is to create realistic training environments that reflect the complexities of modern space engagements.
Innovative AI Solutions for Orbital Warfare
Slingshot’s TALOS AI is designed to react dynamically to the strategies employed by trainees, moving beyond traditional, pre-programmed responses. Instead, it utilizes a comprehensive library of real-world orbital data, which allows it to adapt to new scenarios as they arise. “This ensures that TALOS can easily adapt to new scenarios as the space environment evolves,” said Slingshot CEO Tim Solms in an email to Breaking Defense.
Along with TALOS, the contract will enable Slingshot and its subcontractors to provide additional software tools that will simulate friendly forces and serve as virtual referees during training exercises. This multifaceted approach aims to create a more immersive and effective training experience for Space Force personnel.
The contract, awarded through a Space Force Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO), is part of a streamlined procurement process initiated by the Defense Innovation Unit. It builds on an earlier award of $25 million in 2022, which allowed for initial testing of TALOS capabilities over a 39-month period.
Enhancing the Training Environment
Solms emphasized that this latest contract represents a system-of-systems integration program supporting the Space Force’s Operational Test and Training Infrastructure (OTTI). The goal is to consolidate various training tools into a unified solution that enables Guardians to train in realistic, high-stakes scenarios.
“The objective is to integrate ‘industry-proven’ Red/White/Blue cell tools into a single solution,” Solms added.
This integration will include multiple blue cell tools alongside TALOS, which will serve as the principal adversary simulation capability. By deploying these technologies in a classified environment, the training program aims to enhance scenario development, management, and visualization.
Originally launched in July 2025, TALOS is built to imitate satellite behavior in orbit, allowing for more effective training and simulation exercises. The AI is designed to learn from real-world operations and adapt as the orbital environment changes.
According to Solms, the effectiveness of the TALOS AI is attributed to its training on a vast dataset. “Slingshot tracks roughly 95% of all payload-sized objects across all orbital regimes, from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Extended Geostationary Orbit (xGEO),” he stated. This capability is available 24/7, providing an extensive corpus of commercially available astrometric and photometric data.
This extensive data collection, coupled with advanced algorithms, enables TALOS to generate various derived products, including event detections and behavioral patterns. These features are crucial for developing realistic and actionable training scenarios that reflect the challenges faced in real-world space operations.
The integration of such advanced AI technologies marks a significant step forward for the Space Force, enhancing its operational readiness in an increasingly contested space environment. As both military and commercial activities in space continue to expand, such innovations are essential for maintaining a competitive edge.
