SPEED. DELIVERY. AGILITY.

WHO WE ARE

Speed. Delivery. Agility.

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.

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 LAYER

SDA’s Emerging Capabilities (EC) Cell provides a foundation for new mission concepts that deliver quantifiable warfighter benefits. EC will transition technologies and capabilities into future tranches by working closely with the military services and DoD research community to fly and evaluate select experiments and assess their potential to enable mission accomplishment.

 

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NAVIGATION LAYER

The Navigation Layer will establish a GPS-independent navigation capability for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) using optical inter-satellite ranging, and optical space to ground links.

 

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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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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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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 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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SDA Awards Contracts for the First Generation of the Tracking Layer

Date: October 5, 2020 SDA announced October 5 two contract awards for the first generation of the Tracking Layer. These awards represent the next major and highly visible steps toward developing the National Defense Space Architecture’s inaugural tranche (called Tranche 0). Once fully operational, the SDA Tracking Layer will consist of a proliferated heterogeneous constellation…

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Space Development Agency Praised as Change Agent in Pentagon Procurement

Date: September 17, 2020 | Outlet: Space News | By: Sandra Erwin Telesat’s Don Brown: “The core challenge of the national security space architecture is not really engineering, it’s really culture and acquisition.” WASHINGTON — “We couldn’t believe they went so fast,” Telesat executive Don Brown said of the Space Development Agency’s first major contract…

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Agency Awards Contracts to Enable Data Transfer From Space

DATE: September 1, 2020 | Outlet: DoD News | By: DAVID VERGUN The Space Development Agency announced yesterday the award of two contracts for what’s known as the first generation of the transport layer, the acting deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, and director of defense research and engineering for modernization said. These…

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