Derek Tournear to return as head of Space Development Agency following investigation

Derek Tournear will be reinstated as director of the Space Development Agency after being placed on administrative leave in January, the Department of the Air Force announced Monday.

“Effective 17 April, 2025, Dr. Derek Tournear will return to his duties as the Director of the Space Development Agency,” a DAF spokesperson said in a statement. 

The department announced Jan. 16 that Tournear was placed on administrative leave pending the results of an ongoing investigation and put Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of Space Force’s Space Systems Command, in charge of the agency temporarily. Garrant was then replaced by William Blauser, deputy director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, as SDA’s acting director in February.

While the DAF has not provided details regarding the investigation’s scope, Breaking Defense reported that Tournear was placed on administrative leave following an alleged contract dispute over SDA’s award for the Gamma variant of the Tranche 2 Transport Layer.

In August, SDA awarded prototype agreements to Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems — a Terran Orbital company — and York Space Systems to each develop and build 10 Gamma space vehicles. The variants are intended to advance the agency’s experimental fire control efforts and will be part of SDA’s mega-constellation in low-Earth orbit known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

However, Viasat protested the award in September in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. According to court documents, Viasat claims the company’s proposal was undervalued by SDA while Tyvak and York Space Systems received additional guidance from the agency on how they could improve their bids, potentially giving them an unfair advantage.

SDA has since revoked Tyvak’s $254 million award for the 10 Gamma variant satellites and announced in March it will recompete the award. The $170 million contract to York Space Systems has not been affected by the bid protest.

As of press time, the Department of the Air Force did not immediately respond to DefenseScoop’s inquiry on the status and results of the investigation into Tournear.