The US Space Force is leveling up how it prepares for conflict in orbit, awarding Slingshot Aerospace a $27-million contract to inject artificial intelligence (AI) into space warfare training.
Over the next 18 months, the company will help modernize the Space Force’s Operational Test and Training Infrastructure (OTTI), moving away from scripted exercises and toward AI-driven adversaries that can think, adapt, and maneuver like real satellites operated by near-peer rivals.
At the center of the effort is TALOS, an autonomous AI agent launched in July 2025 to serve as a realistic “Red Force” in orbital wargames.
Instead of following pre-programmed paths, TALOS responds dynamically to trainee actions, forcing Space Force Guardians to deal with unpredictable, machine-speed threats.
TALOS is trained on Slingshot’s massive library of real-world orbital data, drawn from tracking approximately 95 percent of payload-sized objects across Earth’s orbital regimes.
From Scenarios to Full-Scale Wargames
The US Space Force’s Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) has already tested TALOS, using it to speed up scenario development, scale simulations, and run more realistic missions.
Beyond adversary behavior, Slingshot and its partners will also provide tools to simulate friendly forces (“Blue”) and act as virtual referees (“White”), creating a full Red-White-Blue training ecosystem inside classified environments, Breaking Defense reported.
The contract builds on the service’s earlier investments dating back to 2022 and was awarded through a Commercial Solutions Opening, reflecting a broader push to accelerate the adoption of emerging defense tech.
Toward AI-Native Space Training
Slingshot said the goal is interoperability, not lock-in.
TALOS is being built with open APIs, allowing it to plug into other training systems, sensors, data feeds, and future AI tools as they come online.
The result is a shift toward AI-native space training, where human operators train against adversaries that behave less like software and more like hostile spacecraft, giving Guardians a sharper edge as orbital competition accelerates.
