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

The Custody Layer enables 24/7 all-weather custody of time sensitive targets to support engagement by advanced weapons.

 

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PWSA FUTURES

SDA Futures provides new mission concepts that deliver quantifiable warfighter benefits by maturing and transitioning technologies and capabilities into future tranches.

 

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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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GROUND & LAUNCH

SDA's Ground & Launch Layer enables an integrated, resilient ground infrastructure to support a responsive space architecture.

 

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Space Development Agency Successfully Launches First Missions

Date: June 30, 2021 The Space Development Agency today announced the successful launch of its first two satellite missions, Mandrake II and Laser Interconnect Networking Communications System (LINCS) and the Prototype On-orbit Experimental Testbed (POET) payload, on June 30 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. The launch, supported by SpaceX’s Transporter 2, an all-rideshare…

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US Military Places a Bet on LEO for Space Security

Date: June 2021 | Outlet: Via Satellite | By: Vivienne Machi U.S. Defense Department agencies are working with a who’s-who of military contractors, commercial satellite operators, and technology companies to finally demonstrate the feasibility of a proliferated constellation of satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). The concept of using hundreds of small satellites spread out across…

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On-Time Delivery Top Priority at Space Development Agency

Date: May 7, 2021 | Outlet: DOD News | By: C. Todd Lopez Cost, performance and delivery drive acquisition across the Defense Department, typically in equal measure. But the Space Development Agency has prioritized delivery above all else in its effort to get satellites into space that will deliver non-line-of-sight targeting to warfighters across the…

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What focus areas are key to America’s future space capabilities?

Date: April 28, 2021 | Outlet: Defense News | By: Tate Nurkin It has been an active start to 2021 for the Department of Defense’s space activities as the Pentagon seeks to build agility, capability and resilience in this increasingly important domain. Increased concentration on space is welcome. However, Pentagon decisions about future priorities, activities…

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SDA Outlines Missile Tracking Satellite Plan

Date: April 16, 2021 | Outlet: Air Force Magazine Online | By: Amanda Miller The Defense Department’s Space Development Agency wants to blanket Earth with a constellation of low-cost, open-architecture data-relay and missile-tracking satellites whose sheer numbers, along with their 1,000-kilometer-high orbits, would theoretically thwart some modes of interference—but not all.

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‘Warfighter Council’ Guides Capability Development for Space Development Agency

Date: March 4, 2021 | Outlet: DOD News | By: C. Todd Lopez As the Space Development Agency builds out the National Defense Space Architecture, it looks to a biannual “warfighter council” to provide guidance about what is actually important to those who will use the systems, the agency’s director said today. “We want to make…

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EXCLUSIVE – SDA, NRO Mull Direct Satellite Links to Speed Imagery To Warfighters

  Date: February 16, 2021 | Outlet: Breaking Defense | By: Theresa Hitchens WASHINGTON: The Space Development Agency (SDA) and the builder and operator of America’s spy satellites, the NRO, are discussing how to move imagery more rapidly from spy satellites to warfighters for targeting, SDA Director Derek Tournear tells me. The two agencies are…

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SDA Releases Six Small Business Opportunities

Original Response Date: March 31, 2021 SDA is issuing six Small Business Opportunities (SBO) under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, inviting submissions of innovative research proposals supporting the advancement of the National Defense Space Architecture. These six SBOs are issued under the SDA Broad Agency Announcement for…

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Direct From SmallSat Symposium, Dr. Derek M. Tournear, Director, Space Development Agency, Keynote Address

Date: February 11, 2021 | Outlet: SatNews I’m excited to talk about the Space Development Agency and what we have done over the past year and our year term and long term visions. I want to talk about the many products that we’re developing and delivering, so SDA is set up to exist and operate…

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SDA Awards Launch Contract to SpaceX

Date: December 31, 2020 Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX), Hawthorne, California, has been awarded a $150,450,000 firm-fixed-price contract for launch services from Vandenberg Air Force Base for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 Transport and Tracking Layer space vehicles. This award was made based on the Tranche 0 Launch request for proposal (HQ085021R0001) released Oct.…

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