NGA commercial satellite program cuts expected

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) might have to renegotiate key portions of two multibillion-dollar commercial satellite imagery contracts with DigitalGlobe and GeoEye as it carries out a $50 million cut to the agency’s fiscal 2012 budget appropriation and braces for possible additional spending reductions to the EnhancedView program in the years ahead, reports Aviation Week. 

Defense Department officials have suggested the possibility of significant cuts to the NGA’s commercial satellite imagery purchasing power as the Obama administration prepares to submit its fiscal 2013 budget blueprint to Congress on Feb. 13, the story said.

Nevertheless, NGA officials remain committed to commercial imagery as a vital part of geospatial intelligence, and that includes the EnhancedView program, the story said.