SDA again postpones launch of first ‘operational’ data relay, missile warning satellites

SDA’s Tranche 1 launches are now anticipated to begin in summer 2025, starting with satellites for the Transport Layer. (Image courtesy of Northrop Grumman)

WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency (SDA) today announced it is again postponing launch of its first-generation “operational” satellites designed to provide data relay and missile warning/tracking, with a first lift-off now planned for “late summer.”

The launch setback — which represents yet another piece of bad news for the embattled agency — was recently decided by SDA’s current leadership, “in conjunction with” that of the Space Force, an SDA official told reporters today.

William Blauser, former deputy head of the department’s Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), currently is the acting head of SDA, following the Jan. 16 suspension of Director Derek Tournear over alleged mismanagement of a contract award.

SDA originally had hoped to begin launching the Tranche 1 Transport and Tracking Layer constellations for its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) stationed in low Earth orbit (LEO) in September 2024. That date was subsequently pushed back a few months to either very late 2024 or early 2025.

Tranche 1 will include a total of 158 satellites, according to an SDA fact sheet [PDF]: 126 satellites in the data relay Transport Layer, 28 missile warning/tracking satellites in the Tracking Layer, and 4 “missile defense demonstration” satellites.

The first launch will involve Transport Layer birds, an SDA official told reporters today, but the agency is not yet sure how many satellites will go up and whether satellites from all of the three current vendors will be included.

Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and start-up York Space Systems all won shares of a $1.8 billion contract award in February 2022.

The plan, according to the SDA announcement, is to then undertake one launch per month until the all the Transport and Tracking Layer satellites are on-orbit.

“SDA continues to aggressively work toward the first Tranche 1 launch; however, as we progress through a normal assembly, integration, and testing campaign, with the added challenge of late supplier deliveries, it has become clear additional time is required for system readiness to meet the Tranche 1 minimum viable capability,” the agency said.

The SDA official acknowledged that one of the problems pushing back the Tranche 1 launch has been the development of optical communications terminals (OCTs) — an issue highlighted in a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

Laser links are foundational to the workings of the PWSA, which is being designed as a “mesh” network that uses laser links to rapidly transfer data among themselves — and eventually to ground stations.

“OCT terminals is definitely a challenge,” the official said. “We’re working to continue to help scale that and address any hang ups there.”

Other problems have included supplies of propulsion units and vendor difficulties in getting “approvals” for “encryption devices,” the SDA official noted. (While the SDA official declined to elaborate on the latter issue, the National Security Agency is charged with approving encryption devices used by the Defense Department and other national security agencies.)

Despite the launch delays, the SDA announcement stressed that the agency still intends to be able to provide region-by-region coverage for users in the field early in 2027.

“SDA is committed to completing on-orbit test and checkout of the initial satellites by mid-2026 and delivering the entire initial warfighting capability of the PWSA in early calendar year 2027, consistent with warfighter expectations,” the announcement said.

“SDA’s top priority is to quickly deliver capabilities promised to the warfighter. Launch is a major milestone but one in a much larger path to delivering viable capabilities. Our goal remains to rapidly deliver functional capabilities with a high degree of operational confidence,” it added.