The U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) is a U.S. Space Force direct-reporting unit focused on the rapid deployment of space-based capabilities to the joint warfighter. It aims to achieve this through the development, fielding, and operation of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a threat-driven constellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit. SDA's key focus areas include military data and communications connectivity, missile tracking, and development of a resilient space architecture, working with partners like Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, and York Space Systems. Their work supports terrestrial missions and enhances warfighter lethality, maneuverability, and survivability.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
The Space Development Agency selected L3Harris in December 2020 to build and launch four space vehicles to demonstrate the capability to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
The Space Development Agency is deploying a large low Earth orbit constellation of missile-tracking and communications satellites to provide a proliferated network.
The Space Development Agency (SDA) is budgeting $2,700,000,000 over five years for the Transport Layer, a mesh network expected to have hundreds of small satellites.
The Space Force requested $1,000,000,000 in fiscal year 2023 to start a Resilient Missile Warning-Missile Tracking program that combines the Space Development Agency’s low Earth orbit missile-tracking satellites with a Space Force procurement of missile-tracking satellites in medium Earth orbit.
The ground demonstration performed for Space Development Agency leadership validated compatibility between commercially developed laser communications and secure U.S. government encryption hardware.
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee added approximately $160,000,000 to the NSSL procurement budget to fund two additional Space Development Agency launches.
The president’s proposed budget included $1,300,000,000 for three national security space launch missions and three launches of Space Development Agency satellites to low Earth orbit.
The Space Development Agency is accelerating deployment of a $2,500,000,000 missile-tracking constellation originally planned to start launching in 2026 toward a 2025 timeline.
Optical inter-satellite links are a key technology required for the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer communications network.
The Space Development Agency plans to start deploying the Transport Layer Tranche 1 mesh constellation in 2024.
The Space Development Agency plans to solicit solutions for space systems to serve as a Warfighter evaluation platform for experiments of interest to military users.
The Space Development Agency wants the NExT experimental payloads deployed between March 2024 and March 2025 in two orbital planes of four satellites and one orbital plane of two satellites.
The Space Development Agency will proceed with deployment of the Transport Layer and will select a separate contractor to produce 10 satellites that will host government-developed payloads for technology experiments.
The Space Development Agency is seeking to acquire as many as 10 satellites to host military payloads for experiments in low Earth orbit.
T1DES satellites were planned to be integrated with the Space Development Agency’s 126-satellite broadband constellation known as Transport Layer Tranche 1 projected to launch in 2024.
The Space Development Agency still plans to purchase up to 12 T1DES satellites.
The Space Development Agency plans to increase the total number of projected launches in the coming years as it deploys a large constellation in low Earth orbit, making launch cost an issue for the agency.
MDA received a contract from Lockheed Martin for 42 antennas for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer.
Redwire was under contract in January 2022 to deliver three L-band Link-16 helical antennas for the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer Tranche 0.
Lockheed Martin is one of three companies building satellites for the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer constellation.