MODERNIZING THE MILITARY'S SPACE ARCHITECTURE

WHO WE ARE

The Space Development Agency orchestrates the development and fielding of DoD’s future threat-driven National Defense Space Architecture. SDA uses novel approaches to accelerate the military space capabilities necessary to ensure U.S. technological and military advantage in space for national defense.

CAPABILITY LAYERS

TRANSPORT LAYER

SDA's Transport Layer will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and communications connectivity worldwide to a full range of warfighter platforms.

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BATTLE MANAGEMENT LAYER

SDA's Battle Management Layer will provide architecture tasking, mission command and control, and data dissemination to support time-sensitive kill chain closure at campaign scales.

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TRACKING LAYER

SDA's Tracking Layer will provide global indications, warning, tracking, and targeting of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems.

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CUSTODY LAYER

SDA’s Custody Layer will provide 24/7, all-weather custody of time-sensitive, left-of-launch surface mobile targets to support targeting for advanced weapons.

 

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EMERGING CAPABILITIES (DETERRENCE) LAYER

SDA's Emerging Capabilities Layer will incubate new mission concepts. Initial focus will be to deter hostile action in deep space (beyond Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) up to lunar distances).

 

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NAVIGATION LAYER

SDA's Navigation Layer will provide alternate positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) for Global Positioning System (GPS)-denied environments.

 

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SUPPORT LAYER

SDA's Support Layer will enable ground and launch segments to support a responsive space architecture.

 

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falcon 9 launch

What’s With All the U.S. Space-Related Agencies?

Date: December 14, 2020 | Outlet: DOD News | By: C. Todd Lopez For centuries, the U.S. military has fought wars on land and sea. For that, America has the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps. Then, in 1909, the U.S. Army bought America’s first military aircraft with a $30,000 contract awarded to the…

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two american soldiers working on jnn

Space Agency Hopes to Gain Industry’s Trust With Proliferated Satellite Marketplace

Date: December 7, 2020 | Outlet: DOD News | By: C. Todd Lopez The National Defense Space Architecture will include hundreds of satellites in orbit around earth dedicated to gathering targeting and tracking information and instantly transmit it to war fighters. Getting the defense industry on board with this, means gaining their trust. Part of…

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SDA RFI Seeks Industry Feedback on BMC3

SDA released a Request for Information (RFI) for an integrated and interoperable Battle Management, Command, Control, and Communications (BMC3) capability for proliferated space architectures. Ideally, the time needed to execute a given kill chain should be driven entirely by the time it takes for a commander to authorize weapons release and the weapon’s (or weapons’)…

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Podcast: Interview With Space Development Agency Director

Date: November 10, 2020 | Outlet: Aviation Week Network | By: Jen Dimascio, Steve Trimble, and Lee Hudson Space Development Agency (SDA) director Derek Tournear joins Aviation Week editors on Check 6 to discuss how its system of space tracking and transport satellites will revolutionize the U.S. military and the challenges it will face along the…

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Gotta go fast: How America’s Space Development Agency is shaking up acquisitions

Date: November 9, 2020 | Outlet: C4ISRNet | By: Nathan Strout WASHINGTON — In March 2019, the Pentagon established a new organization to buy space systems: The Space Development Agency. But this led to some confusion. After all, the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center already bought the bulk of the military’s satellites…

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DoD’s Space Development Agency shows how fast the FAR can be

Date: November 3, 2020 | Outlet: Federal News Network | By: Jared Serbu When it came time for the brand new DoD modernization organization charged with rapidly innovating in the space domain to award one of its first big contracts, you might expect they’d turn to a new, en-vogue acquisition mechanism like other transaction agreements (OTA)…

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SDA Releases Broad Agency Announcement for Participation in DoD’s SBIR/STTR Program

Original Response Date: Sept. 30, 2021

SDA release a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to launch its participation in DoD’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program.

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SDA RFI Seeks Industry Feedback on Tranche 1

Responses are due November 13, 2020

SDA released a Request for Information (RFI) for Tranche 1 of the National Defense Space Architecture, scheduled to launch in late FY2024.

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SDA Awards Contract for Integration of Tranche 0

SDA announced October 22 a task order against an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for integration of the first generation, Tranche 0, of the National Defense Space Architecture. The performer will provide overall technical leadership for integrating space and ground elements for Tranche 0, the Warfighter Immersion Tranche. The performer will also execute on-orbit tests and experiments that culminate in a Capstone event, expected in FY23, which demonstrates potential capabilities to the Warfighter.

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Mission Assurance: NRL Space Research Group to Validate SDA Satellite Interoperability

WASHINGTON – A U.S. Naval Research Laboratory research group will use its background in space system development to help ensure future satellites have the capability to work together.

Announced Aug. 31, NRL’s work supports the Space Development Agency’s two multi-million dollar contract awards for the development of the first generation of the Transport Layer, representing the first major and highly-visible step toward developing the National Defense Space Architecture’s inaugural tranche, entitled Tranche Zero.

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