SDA Hands Out $424 Million for Advanced Comms Satellites

The Space Development Agency awarded contracts for the final 20 satellites in the second tranche of its proliferated low-Earth orbit constellation on Aug. 16, setting the stage for hundreds of satellites to launch in the next several years.

York Space Systems and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a subsidiary of Terran Orbital, each received contracts to build the “enhanced tactical SATCOM” spacecraft. York’s contract is for $170 million, while Tyvak’s is for $254 million

All told, the agency has now awarded contracts for more than 430 satellites across Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 of what it calls the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. The PWSA will provide satellite communications, transport data, and help with missile warning and tracking.

Already, there are 27 satellites in orbit as part of Tranche 0, what leaders have described as a “demonstration” tranche meant to show off the constellation’s capabilities. Tranche 1 will make the constellation operational, and Tranche 2 will provide global coverage and persistent regional coverage. Tranche 1 is slated to start launching later this year, and Tranche 2 will follow beginning in 2026.

The satellites contracted on Aug. 16 are for the “Gamma” portion—the most advanced of three parts of the Tranche 2 Transport Layer. According to SDA officials and documents, these satellites will have a “payload specifically designed to close future kill chains via the PWSA” called Warlock, as well as four optical terminals for laser communications.

The Gamma satellites won’t start launching until the late summer or early fall of 2027, according to an SDA release.

“With these T2TL-Gamma awards, we are closing out the hardware procurement phase for Tranche 2 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture to support delivery beginning in 2026 to achieve our full warfighting capability,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said in the release. “The T2TL-Gamma space vehicles will demonstrate global communications access and operationalize persistent global encrypted connectivity to support missions like beyond-line-of-sight targeting.”

The SDA release also noted that this is the first time Tyvak will be a prime contractor for the agency. However, Lockheed Martin announced this week it plans to buy Tyvak’s parent company, Terran Orbital. Lockheed, the largest defense company, built some of the Transport satellites in Tranche 0 and is contract to build more for Tranche 1.

York is also a regular contributor to the agency, having built or been awarded contracts to build satellites in Tranches 0 and 1.

According to SDA, there were eight proposals to build the Gamma satellites.

Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture