Drift

SBIRS High

SBIRS · Space Force · Lockheed Martin

+263% $5.6B (1996) → $20.3B (2020)
SBIRS High: cost trajectory from $5.6B in 1996 to $20.3B in 2020, +263% growth. Explore SBIRS interactively → Download 1-page brief (PDF)
Baseline
$5.6B (1996)
Current estimate
$20.3B (2020)
Cost growth
+263%
Units
3 → 6
Quantity change
+100%
Unit-cost change
+81%
IOC
2002 (planned) → 2011 (first GEO)
Schedule slip
+9 yr
Cost basis
TY
Confidence
high · reconciled
+263% — FOUR Nunn-McCurdy unit-cost breaches over its life; first-satellite launch slipped ~9 years (2002 → 2011). Immature tech, unstable funding, underestimated software.

Documented events

Source: GAO-21-105249 (2021): "grew ~260% from $5.6B (1996) to $20.3B (2020)"; then-year.

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Drift — an independent project by Aous Abdo, built from public GAO, CRS and DoD sources. Cost growth has many causes; a larger number is not by itself evidence of mismanagement. How this is built · Explore the data →