The STRATFI program, part of the broader Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) effort, connects commercial innovators with defense agencies and investment partners to drive mature technologies toward operational deployment. With support from organizations such as the Space Development Agency (SDA), Umbra is positioned to leverage STRATFI's matching fund structure to unlock as much as $60 million in development funding, pending contractual arrangements and private co-investment.
In parallel, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) will provide targeted research and development funding over a three-year period to advance Umbra's synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capabilities as part of the STRATFI engagement. These funds aim to accelerate the integration of commercial space technologies into DoD mission planning.
Umbra intends to use the funding to design and deploy a new generation of satellites engineered to deliver expansive SAR coverage for maritime and open-ocean search operations. The constellation will support tip-and-cue tasking capabilities for U.S. Combatant Commands, with particular emphasis on enhancing situational awareness in the Indo-Pacific. The system will build on Umbra's experience in formation flying, bistatic SAR, and moving target detection to deliver cost-effective, agile solutions for defense users.
"We're proud to have the opportunity to take this additional step to provide our mission-critical capabilities directly to the warfighter at a time when speed of acquisition is paramount," said Dr. Bonnie Kean, Director of Mission Solutions at Umbra. "For the past four years, we have been dedicated to serving DoD customers and remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering innovative, reliable, and high-performance satellite solutions that strengthen national security."
Umbra's leadership in SAR technology has already demonstrated its operational value, with recent advances including bistatic imaging from tandem satellites. The company plans to build on these achievements by developing a cooperative satellite architecture to support wide-area monitoring and dynamic threat detection.
This STRATFI-supported effort is expected to accelerate the path from research to real-world deployment, ensuring that new national security tools reach U.S. forces and allies with greater speed and impact.
Related Links
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Military Space News at SpaceWar.com
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