News

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has announced the award of two prototype agreements with a total value of approximately .5 billion to build and operate the Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) – Beta variant prototype constellation. This constellation will consist of 72 satellites and serve as the foundation for Tranche 2 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

Northrop Grumman Space Systems and Lockheed Martin Corp. have been awarded these firm-fixed priced Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements. Each company will be responsible for building and operating 36 T2TL – Beta prototype constellation satellites. These satellites will be deployed in three orbital planes of 12 satellites each, with the first plane set to launch by September 2026.

The T2TL – Beta space vehicles will provide global communications access and deliver persistent global encrypted connectivity. Their primary purpose will be to support missions such as beyond line of sight targeting, missile warning, and missile tracking of advanced missile threats.

The Tranche 2 Transport Layer vehicles, known as the Beta variant, are similar to the Tranche 1 vehicles but will also integrate advanced tactical communication technology demonstrated by the Tranche 1 Development and Experimentation System (T1DES). This advancement will enhance the capabilities of the Tranche 2 vehicles.

The proposals for these prototype agreements were evaluated by SDA under an Other Transaction Authorities solicitation, SDA-PS-23-03. The prototype agreement with Northrop Grumman Space Systems has a total value of approximately 3 million (FA24012390041), while the prototype agreement with Lockheed Martin Corp. has a total value of approximately 6 million (FA24012390042).

The Tranche 2 Transport Layer will consist of multiple space vehicle and mission configuration variants, procured through a multi-solicitation and multi-vendor acquisition approach. It is part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture and will provide multi-band global communications access and persistent encrypted connectivity for warfighter missions. The Transport Layer will serve as the space backbone for the Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) infrastructure, offering low-latency data transport, sensor-to-shooter connectivity, and tactical satellite communication (TACSATCOM) direct to platforms.

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