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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SDA Awards Prototype Agreement to Establish the Tranche 1 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T1DES)

All Tranche 1 Hardware and Integration Pieces Now on Contract Date: October 26, 2022 The Space Development Agency (SDA) today announced it has awarded a firm-fixed price Other Transaction prototype agreement, with a total potential value of approximately $200 million, to York Space Systems of Denver, Colorado, for the establishment of the Tranche 1 Demonstration…

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SDA Awards Prototype Agreement to Establish the NDSA Experimental Testbed (NExT)

Date: October 4, 2022 The Space Development Agency (SDA) today announced it has awarded one firm-fixed price Other Transaction prototype agreement, with a total potential value of approximately $176 million, to Ball Aerospace of Broomfield, Colorado, for the establishment of the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) Experimental Testbed (NExT). The prototype agreement includes development, manufacture,…

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Space Development Agency transfers to USSF

Date: October 1, 2022 | Outlet: Space Force News | By: Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs The Space Development Agency (SDA) transferred to the U.S. Space Force (USSF) on October 1, 2022. “As we transfer to the U.S. Space Force, SDA looks forward to continuing our important work on the National Defense Space…

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SDA a ‘model’ that could shake up all space acquisition: Calvelli

Date: September 20, 2022 | Outlet: Breaking Defense | By: Theresa Hitchens AFA 2022 — The Space Development Agency’s rapid development-to-acquisition cycle could serve as a “model” for the rest of the Space Force acquisition community, the service’s acquisition executive said today — signaling the potential for a major shake-up in the Pentagon’s traditional approach that has…

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Constellations Podcast: Spiral Development, Technology Readiness Levels and Being a Constructive Disruptor

Date: August 17, 2022 | Outlet: Kratos Constellations Podcast At the recent Small Satellite Conference (SmallSat) in Logan, Utah, Space Development Agency (SDA) Technical Director, Dr. Frank Turner, spoke about the importance of the SDA’s National Defense Space Architecture Transport Layer to Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JACD2). While at SmallSat, Dr. Turner also spoke…

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SDA Issues Special Notice to Industry for National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) Systems, Technologies, and Emerging Capabilities (STEC) Broad Agency Announcement

Special Notice Publish Date: August 4, 2022 Under the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) Systems, Technologies, and Emerging Capabilities (STEC) Space Development Agency (SDA) Broad Agency Announcement, HQ085022S0001, posted on SAM.gov on January 13, 2022, SDA is issuing this Special Notice specifically seeking industry partnership to demonstrate laser communications from SDA’s Tranche 0 Transport Layer…

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U.S. touts progress in hypersonic arms race with China, Russia

Date: July 19, 2022 | Outlet: The Washington Post | By: Karoun Demirjian The Pentagon this week said it reached important new milestones as it scrambles to catch up with China and Russia in what has become a fraught arms race between the world’s most advanced militaries, conductinga successful hypersonic missile test and securing a…

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US Developing Satellite System to Track Hypersonic Weapons

Date: July 18, 2022 | Outlet: Associated Press | By: Lolita C. Baldor WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will spend $1.3 billion to develop advanced satellites that will be able to better track hypersonic missile threats, the Pentagon said Monday, announcing two new contracts that will put the detection and tracking systems in orbit by…

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Space Development Agency Makes Awards for 28 Satellites to Build Tranche 1 Tracking Layer

Date: July 18, 2022 | Outlet: DOD News National Defense Space Architecture Tracking Layer Accelerated WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Space Development Agency (SDA) today announced the award of two prototype agreements with a total potential value over $1.3 billion for the establishment of the Tranche 1 (T1) Tracking Layer, providing the initial missile warning/missile tracking…

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SDA Issues Solicitation for National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) Experimental Testbed (NExT)

Original Response Date: July 29, 2022 SDA issued a solicitation for the agency’s National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) Experimental Testbed (NExT) satellites. Using Other Transaction Authority (OTA), this solicitation seeks proposals for U.S. space industry builder-operator teams that will partner with the agency to jointly develop and operate NExT.  The solicitation outlines the agency’s need…

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