ABOUT US

ABOUT US

The Space Development Agency, established March 12, 2019, ensures continued U.S. leadership in an era of renewed great power competition. Our charge is to create and sustain lethal, resilient, threat-driven, and affordable military space capabilities that provide persistent, resilient, global, low-latency surveillance to deter or defeat adversaries.

Recognized as the Department of Defense's constructive disruptor for space acquisition, the Space Development Agency (SDA) will quickly deliver needed space-based capabilities to the joint warfighter to support terrestrial missions through development, fielding, and operation of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. SDA capitalizes on a unique business model that values speed and lowers costs by harnessing commercial development to achieve a proliferated architecture and enhance resilience. SDA will deliver a minimum viable product - on time, every two years- by employing spiral development methods, adding capabilities to future generations as the threat evolves.

The Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture consists of the following:

Transport Layer

Battle Management Layer

Tracking Layer

Custody Layer

Emerging Capabilities (Deterrence) Layer

Navigation Layer

Support Layer

SDA's mission begins and ends with the warfighter. SDA recognizes that good enough capabilities in the hands of warfighter sooner may be better than delivering the perfect solution too late. SDA remains mission-focused and continues to make advances toward delivering the next-generation PWSA.

Our Motto

“Semper Citius”

In Latin, it means “always faster.” SDA recognizes that good enough capabilities in the hands of the joint warfighter sooner may be better than delivering the perfect solution too late. Because of this, it means we as an agency accept a higher level of risk, employ novel business models, and move to develop and field capabilities more quickly than you might see in “traditional” government agencies. We believe this builds resiliency into our people and our product—the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

When we say “semper citius,” we mean that we are moving at or ahead of the speed of the threat because we know the joint warfighter is counting on us.