NIMA REINFORCES ITS COMMITMENT TO REMOTE-SENSING INDUSTRY
The
National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) today announced that it is awarding a
five-year contract to Longmont, CO-based
DigitalGlobe, Inc., to assure the
availability of high-resolution imagery from the next series of U. S. commercial
imagery satellites.
This contract, known as NextView, implements a new level
of partnering between the U. S. Government and the remote-sensing
industry.
The contract affords greater access and priority, and advanced capability and
capacity to government customers than any
other previous contract while
providing DigitalGlobe with long-term commitments and capital for its satellite
development.
The NextView award to DigitalGlobe is a contract with a potential to
award more than $500 million over the period of performance of the
contract.
The contract allows NIMA early participation in the development cycle for the
next generation of U. S. commercial
satellite imaging capabilities. NextView
moves beyond the commodity-based approach of commercial imagery acquisition and
seeks to assure
access, priority tasking rights, volume (area coverage) and
broad licensing terms for sharing imagery with all potential mission
partners. This contract will transform how NIMA provides geospatial
intelligence by assuring availability of 0.5-meter commercial
imagery.
Simultaneously, NIMA is pursuing further discussions with Space Imaging, LLC
in Thornton, CO, regarding a contract to continue
development of a follow-on
system to provide NIMA an additional source to mitigate a potential commercial
gap in availability of
commercial imagery to support the geospatial mission.
"NIMA's NextView effort is a significant milestone for our Agency," said
NIMA Director, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper, Jr.
"It
represents NIMA's commitment toward guaranteeing our nation maintains a
technological edge in satellite imagery technology. It
also supports our
ability to implement commercial remote sensing policies established by the
President and the Director of Central
Intelligence. NIMA relies on a robust
commercial imagery capability to help fulfill its obligations in support of
national defense, and
we are pleased to have DigitalGlobe on the Geospatial
Intelligence team and welcome further discussions with Space Imaging to further
support our commercial imagery capability." 1
1 Page 2
2
NIMA
is a national intelligence and combat support agency whose mission is to provide
timely, relevant and accurate geospatial
intelligence in support of national
security. Geospatial intelligence is the exploitation and analysis of imagery
and geospatial
information to describe, assess and visually depict physical
features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. Headquartered
in Bethesda, Md., NIMA has major facilities in the Washington, D. C.,
Northern Virginia and St. Louis, Mo., areas with NIMA support teams
worldwide.
-30- 2