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Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman Awarded .5 Billion Contract for SDA’s Tranche 2 Transport Layer Beta Constellation
The Space Development Agency (SDA) has announced that Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. have been awarded a combined .5 billion contract to build and operate the Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) Beta variant prototype constellation. Under this contract, each company will be responsible for building and operating 36 satellites, distributed across three orbital planes with 12 satellites each.
The Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) is part of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), which consists of the Transport Layer for data transmission and the Tracking Layer for remote sensing and Earth observation. By incorporating advanced tactical data links and future proliferated missions, Tranche 2 aims to enhance global persistence for the capabilities offered by Tranche 1.
Lockheed Martin will receive 6 million for the Tranche 2 satellites, adding to their previous achievements in building 10 Tranche 0 satellites worth 7.5 million and 42 Tranche 1 satellites for 0 million. Lockheed Martin’s strategic partnerships with suppliers and small businesses will contribute to the successful delivery of this critical technology.
Similarly, Northrop Grumman will be awarded 4 million for the Tranche 2 satellites, building upon their experience of constructing 42 Tranche 1 satellites for 2 million. With their extensive military satellite communication expertise and mission understanding, Northrop Grumman seeks to play a crucial role in realizing SDA’s vision.
SDA, originally an entity under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, has now become a direct reporting unit in the United States Space Force. Since 2020, SDA has spent a total of .2 billion on 254 satellites. This latest award for Tranche 2 marks another significant milestone in the development of advanced space technologies for national defense purposes.
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