The new executive order tasks Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to deliver a comprehensive plan for a next-generation homeland missile defense reference architecture in the next 60 days.
The system is carrying primary and secondary payloads for space-based maritime domain awareness and communications.
The demonstration by York Space Systems and SpaceX marks a critical milestone ahead of the agency’s upcoming Tranche 1 launch.
After supply chain woes delayed the launch of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 satellites, SDA and the space industrial base are working to mitigate risks in future tranches.
Lockheed Martin intends to use the technology demonstration as a way to prove the LM 400’s readiness for future Defense Department contracts.
As part of the Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (HALO) vendor pool, the companies can compete for demonstration task orders.
The Space Development Agency intends to begin publishing draft solicitations for Tranche 3 in early 2025.
Space Systems Command dropped RTX from the Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking — MEO program in May due to cost growth, schedule slips and design challenges.
“Moving forward, we see there are a lot of niche missions where the fine line between what is the tracking mission and what becomes the custody mission starts to get blurred,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said.
Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems is one of two vendors selected to build Gamma variant platforms for tranche two of the data transport layer for the Pentagon’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
