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The Space Development Agency (SDA), a part of the U.S. Space Force, has announced that it has awarded contracts totaling .5 billion to Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. These contracts are for the construction and operation of 72 satellites.

The satellites will be a part of SDA’s Tranche 2 Transport Layer, which is a mesh network of military satellites in low Earth orbit. This network is a component of the proliferated warfighter space architecture being developed by SDA. It includes a Transport Layer for interconnected communications satellites and a Tracking Layer for missile-detection and warning sensors.

Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract worth around 3 million for 36 satellites, while Lockheed Martin’s contract for the same number of satellites is worth 6 million. These satellites will provide global communications access and encrypted connectivity in support of warfighter missions worldwide.

The 72 satellites ordered from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are part of the “Beta” portion of the Tranche 2 Transport Layer. They will be deployed in groups of 12 satellites, with the first group set to launch in September 2026. Additionally, SDA plans to acquire an additional 100 “Alpha” satellites for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer.

SDA follows a commercial-like model to acquire satellites, adding new technologies incrementally as they become available. This approach contrasts with the traditional method of one large acquisition over many years used by the Department of Defense (DoD).

Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are now the largest awardees of SDA satellite contracts. In February 2022, these companies, along with York Space Systems, were selected to produce 42 satellites each for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer. Furthermore, Northrop Grumman also won a contract in July 2022 to provide 14 missile-tracking satellites for SDA’s Tracking Layer Tranche 1.

To date, Lockheed Martin has won contracts for 88 satellites from SDA, while Northrop Grumman has received orders for 92 satellites.

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