All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
MILNET is designed to operate as a high-capacity backbone layer alongside the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture being built by the Space Development Agency.
The SDA’s Transport Layer focuses on low-latency tactical data inputs, while MILNET provides the heavy-lift data transport for moving large intelligence and sensor files.
On December 19, 2025, the Space Development Agency awarded two agreements totaling $1.6 billion to Rocket Lab and Northrop Grumman to build and operate 36 satellites for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
The SDA is managing the launch campaign for Tranche 1 operational vehicles, which began in late 2025.
The Space Development Agency awarded $3.5 billion in contracts for a Tranche 3 Missile Tracking Constellation.
The Space Development Agency awarded four contracts totaling $3.5 billion on Dec. 19 to build 72 satellites for the Tranche 3 Tracking Layer.
Rocket Lab's contract for the Tranche 3 satellites marks its first selection as a prime contractor for the SDA's tracking mission.
The Space Development Agency awarded $3.5 billion in contracts to continue building the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
The Tranche 3 awards represent a significant scaling of the Space Development Agency's spiral development model.
The SDA is managing a 10-month campaign to launch the Tranche 1 operational vehicles.
Gurpartap 'GP' Sandhoo is the Acting Director of the Space Development Agency after the departure of inaugural director Derek Tournear in September 2025.
SDA expects to resume launches early next year after resolving software problems and finding available launch pads and payload processing.
Lockheed Martin, Rocket Lab USA, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris Technologies are to build 72 satellites for Tranche 3 of the U.S. Space Force's Space Development Agency's Tracking Layer under more than $3.5 billion in Other Transaction Authority rapid prototyping contracts.
The Tracking Layer and communications Transport Layer are key parts of SDA's future Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture featuring optically linked, Low-Earth Orbit satellites.
Rocket Lab is on contract to build 18 SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer-Beta satellites.
Northrop Grumman is set to deliver 150 satellites as part of Tranches 1, 2, and 3 for the Space Development Agency’s missile defense initiative.
SDA planned to launch once a month to get all 154 Tranche 1 satellites into orbit within a year.
Northrop Grumman Corporation was awarded a Tracking Layer of Tranche 3 (TRKT3) contract by the Space Development Agency (SDA) to deliver missile warning and tracking satellites.
The Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) is an initiative by the Space Development Agency to create a global mesh-networked missile defense and communications architecture in low-Earth orbit.
The review weighs the SDA’s proliferated satellite model against a classified constellation known as MILNET.