Under the newly established indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, the commercial vendors will be able to bid on efforts over a 10-year period to build satellites and integrate them with experimental technologies for demonstrations. The STEP 2.0 contract has a ceiling of $237 million, and the Space Force expects the first delivery order to begin in January 2026, according to Space Systems Command (SSC).

The service released a request for proposals for the STEP 2.0 program in May 2024, and noted that it was looking to leverage proven space vehicles developed by the commercial space industry.

Vendors selected for the program represent a mix of traditional primes, defense newcomers and academia: Axient, Blue Canyon Technologies, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Loft Orbital Federal, Lynk Global, Orbit Systems, Spire Global, Turion Space Corp., Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory and York Space Systems.

“By leveraging commercially developed spacecraft and fostering industry partnerships, STEP 2.0 aims to accelerate the development of cutting-edge space technologies over the next decade for the DoD and their mission partners,” SSC said in a statement.

STEP 2.0 is housed under SSC’s Space Test Program, which supports the Pentagon and other federal agencies by conducting end-to-end demonstrations of emerging space tech. The new effort looks to fill gaps in the current program’s ability to rapidly acquire, launch and conduct S&T demonstrations, according to SSC.

“The DoD Space Test Program will gain measurable value from leveraging industry insights and capabilities to provide proven spacecraft to host the DoD’s next generation of space technologies,” Lt. Col. Brian Shimek, director of the Space Test Program, said in a statement.

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The two satellites were stationed in low-Earth orbit as part of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 — a batch of experimental systems launched in 2023 that serve to test and validate SDA’s future mega-constellation known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The on-orbit demonstration involved a data transport satellite built by York and a SpaceX missile tracking platform on two separate network layers and orbital inclinations that were able to successfully close a laser comms link, according York.

“Achieving the first inter-vendor, inter-layer laser link demonstrates the tangible value of open standards and collaborative efforts in rapidly achieving an integrated space architecture,” York CEO Dirk Wallinger said in a statement. “We are proud to support SDA’s vision for an interconnected space architecture for the warfighters.”

SDA envisions the PWSA as a constellation comprising hundreds of satellites built by multiple vendors that carry critical communications, data relay, missile warning and tracking capabilities for the Defense Department.

To ensure platforms built by different vendors can pass data with each other, each of the PWSA birds carry optical inter-satellite links that meet a standardized protocol published by and required the agency. 

“Laser communication links, which enable high-speed, secure data transmission, are an enabling capability for next-generation satellite networks,” York stated in a press release. “By successfully demonstrating the first LEO-to-LEO laser communication link between satellites from different vendors, York and SDA have taken a significant step toward realizing the vision of a unified, multi-vendor satellite communications network.”

The demonstration marks another critical milestone for SDA as it prepares to launch the first operational batch of PWSA satellites, known as Tranche 1, in the coming months.

SDA Director Derek Tournear has said in the past that space-based laser communications will be a significant technical hurdle to overcome as the agency validates the PWSA concept. In September 2024, Tournear said that two Tranche 0 missile warning and missile tracking satellites built by SpaceX established laser link comms — paving the way for inter-vendor networking demonstrations.

At the same time, SDA is also planning to have the PWSA connect with other military constellations and, eventually, commercial satellites. The agency wants to use “translator satellites” that can connect its Tracking Layer space vehicles to the Space Force’s future missile warning and tracking constellation stationed in medium-Earth orbit. Additionally, SDA wants to use “hybrid” communications terminals built by commercial vendors that can connect their constellations to the PWSA.

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The bus will be launched into low-Earth orbit (LEO) onboard a Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket in the first half of 2025, Jeff Schrader, Lockheed Martin Space’s vice president of strategy and business development, told reporters Wednesday. Although it will carry a communications payload, the intent for the self-funded mission is “to show that we’ve built a system, the [technology readiness level] has been burned down, how long we can actually plan to be able to build those in the future to offer to our customers,” Scharder said.

For decades, the Pentagon has used a small number of large, exquisite satellite buses for its space missions that have become increasingly more costly and time-consuming to build. As demand for space-based warfighting capabilities continues to grow, the department has shifted its strategy and is now focused on buying smaller, less expensive satellites in larger numbers — such as those acquired for the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).

Schrader said Lockheed Martin developed the LM 400 over the last three years to serve as a “middle ground” between the two options, allowing customers to carry additional power and payloads than smaller satellites while still keeping price tags low.

“For our tracking layer bids, we’ve had to use certain class buses for smaller [electro-optical/infrared] sensors,” Schrader explained. “This allows us to actually maybe grow that a little bit to get more coverage for EO/IR type of missions for missile warning [and] missile tracking.”

The satellite bus is also customizable to support different missions — including remote sensing, communications, imagery and radar — as well as orbits and launch configurations, according to the company.

As a common bus, the LM 400 is “going to have a significant amount of componentry that is exactly alike, no matter who the customer is,” Schrader said. “That allows us to go out to our supply chain, be able to cut long-term agreements with them and be able to put something in a shorter amount of build time, as well as get after a more proliferated approach.”

Development of the LM 400 was driven by Ignite, Lockheed Martin’s self-funded innovation unit that conducts experiments both on- and off-orbit as a way to accelerate space technology for potential government customers. The company’s Pony Express 2 tactical satcom and TacSat space-based 5G missions were also conducted under Ignite.

But LM 400’s demonstration is also being done in partnership with Lockheed Martin’s business needs as the company looks to better position itself to use the bus in future bids on government programs. That includes the Space Force’s medium-Earth orbit (MEO) missile warning and tracking constellation, as well as other classified programs for the Defense Department, the intelligence community and international partners, Schrader said.

“This will be ready as soon as we can get contracts for fielding,” he said.

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Since May, NRO has completed three of six launches planned for 2024 that have put operational satellites on orbit for the proliferated constellation, which is expected to enhance the office’s ability to capture and deliver space-based data for military users. Prior to launching the first batches of operational satellites this year, NRO began a series of on-orbit demonstrations with prototypes in June 2023 to verify the constellation’s performance and cost.

“From last June to December this year, we’ll have probably launched 100 satellites. So, we are going from the demo phase to the operational phase, where we’re really going to be able to start testing all of this stuff out in a more operational way,” Scolese said at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Envisioned as a constellation comprising hundreds of satellites stationed across multiple orbits, NRO’s proliferated architecture is part of the office’s broader plan to drastically increase the number of space vehicles it operates over the next decade. The shift to larger constellations of low-cost satellites is one happening across the space sector, including both in the national security and commercial industries. 

An NRO spokesperson told DefenseScoop that the office has launched over ten missions related to the proliferated constellation since mid-2023. Additional launches are expected to fill out the constellation through 2028, according to NRO.

“The purpose of this proliferated architecture is to increase revisit rates, enhance NRO’s coverage, and capture and deliver — by orders of magnitude — more data to our users than ever before,” the spokesperson said.

Scolese emphasized that a key benefit of the proliferated constellation will be its ability to increase NRO’s revisit rates — or the ability to repeatedly take images of a location over a period of time — and deliver that intelligence directly to warfighters.

“We need to have persistence, or fast revisit. Persistence you get by going into higher orbits, but that means you need much, much larger apertures in order to accomplish whatever the mission is,” he said. “Or you can proliferate your architecture, put more satellites up there, so that a satellite is always coming over an area within a given, reasonable amount of time that’s needed by the users.”

The constellation is enabled by a burgeoning commercial space industry able to build hundreds of satellites at lower costs than before, Scolese added. NRO is able to leverage commercial space vehicles for its own missions by adapting them with additional military-specific sensors and systems, he said.

As NRO moves into using the proliferated satellites in operations, the office is also looking at how it can leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation to help operators in tasking the satellites and processing intelligence they collect, Scolese said.

“When it comes to tasking the satellites, asking them what to do and figuring out which satellite is the best one to do it — or which combination is — that’s where we’re taking advantage of advanced processing techniques, [and] some of the techniques in artificial intelligence and machine learning, to do that,” he noted.

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According to a request for proposal published on Sam.gov on Thursday, Space Systems Command plans to establish a contract vehicle for its Space Test Experiments Platform (STEP) 2.0 effort. Over the next decade, the service plans to award multiple awards to vendors able to provide platforms for the Space Force’s science-and-technology experiments.

“The DoD Space Test Program is looking to leverage all the successes from industry to provide proven spacecraft to host the DoD’s next generation of space technologies,” Lt. Col. Brian Shimek, director of the service’s Space Test Program (STP), said in a statement. 

Originally founded in the 1960s, the Space Test Program supports the entire Defense Department and other government agencies by conducting end-to-end demonstrations of novel space technologies. Now managed by Space Systems Command, the STP has executed over 300 missions to advance new capabilities, according to the Space Force.

STEP 2.0 will fill an existing gap in the program’s ability to procure and launch S&T payloads, according to the Space Force. The service especially hopes to use proven space vehicles developed by the commercial space industry — part of a larger ongoing theme in the Space Force to partner with the commercial sector.

“​​Working in collaboration with government agencies, industry, and academia, the program aims to demonstrate promising technologies to aid the warfighter,” a Space Force press release stated. “By leveraging commercially developed spacecrafts and fostering industry partnerships, STEP 2.0 aims to accelerate the development of cutting-edge space technologies over the next decade for the Department of Defense and their mission partners.”

Under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract vehicle, vendors will be able to bid on efforts over a 10-year period to build satellites, integrate them with payloads equipped with experimental technologies and provide ground support operations.

The contract aims to provide STP with rapid access to space in order to conduct the demonstrations on a range of platforms — from smaller CubeSats to Class 2 space vehicles, according to the solicitation. The service is also targeting satellites for low-Earth and geosynchronous orbits.

Responses to the RFP are due July 12, and the first delivery order is scheduled for September.

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“We’re taking our cues from what Space Systems Command is talking about, so that’s where prioritizing the on-orbit refueling is coming from as the immediate need,” Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, program executive officer for assured access to space, told reporters Wednesday. “There are other things that we have looked at and kind of canvassed the industrial base, looking specifically at mobility to support the dynamic space operations and needs like that — such as the backpacks.”

The service has begun work to integrate new mobility technologies onto its military spacecraft. It created a new servicing, mobility and logistics program office in September to turn its broad discussions, requirements and research-and-development efforts into real capability, Col. Joyce Bulson, head of the new program office, said during the roundtable.

While the push is aligned with U.S. Space Command’s shift towards “dynamic space operations” — the ability to easily, continuously and quickly maneuver on-orbit satellites — the Space Force wants to lean on available tech already under development, Bulson added.

“It’s definitely a community of all of us coming together with these great activities and projects that have been started, but putting that together into a roadmap so that our efforts are aligned from what we’ve seen with our past engagements with our partners,” she said.

The current strategy is to ensure future satellites are equipped with refueling capabilities, Bulson said. Because satellites carry a finite amount of fuel, mission planners and operators are often forced to move them in a way that doesn’t waste fuel or shorten their lifespans — thus restricting their full range of capability.

Spacecom is looking to create a sustained space maneuver capability by 2028, and it plans to conduct a demonstration by 2026. In September, the Space Force awarded Astroscale a $25.5 million contract to deliver an on-orbit refueling prototype no later than 2026. 

The service has also begun certifying industry designs for refueling ports that can be integrated onto its satellites — a crucial step to understanding what the refueling architecture will look like in the future. On Monday, Northrop Grumman’s Passive Refueling Module (PRM) was the first to be certified as the “preferred standard,” and Bulson’s office is continuing to review designs from other companies for possible certification, she said.

As for satellites already on orbit that are “unprepared” to be refueled, the Space Force is looking to connect attachments — something akin to a jetpack or backpack — that “could go connect up with an existing satellite to give it more propulsion, whether it’s not designed to have sufficient thrust or if it’s out of propellant,” Panzenhagen explained.

In the longer term, the Space Force wants to expand its overall servicing capabilities that will bolster the service’s satellites, Bulson noted. 

“Refueling isn’t the only life limiter for a spacecraft, and not the only thing that can be targeted from a threat perspective,” she said, adding that the office is interested in “expanding into the larger kinds of services and capabilities from both a resilience and a life-extension perspective.”

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The successful review paves the way for six systems made by Boeing’s Millennium Space Systems — part of Epoch 1 of the service’s Resilient Missile Warning and Missile Tracking – MEO (MEO MW/MT) program — to move into production. Those satellites are on track to be launched in late 2026, according to a Space Systems Command press release.

“We are rolling out these capabilities as fast as possible. The design is maturing very well and once on-orbit, will be instrumental in delivering some of our early missile warning and missile tracking capabilities,” Col. Heather Bogstie, senior materiel leader of SSC’s resilient missile warning, tracking and defense (MWTD) acquisition delta, said in a statement.

The MEO MW/MT constellation is part of a larger effort to create a space architecture that is able to detect dim or high-speed objects, such as hypersonic missiles that can fly faster than Mach 5 and are highly maneuverable.

To do so, the Pentagon is shifting away from launching expensive satellites in higher orbital regimes and instead focusing on proliferating systems in low- and medium-Earth orbits. 

Similar to the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, the MEO MW/MT effort is being developed in phases — referred to as “epochs” — that are designed to deliver the latest capabilities in increments.

The satellites that have passed critical design review are part of Epoch 1, which overall will “consist of up to nine” space vehicles and is intended to “lay the foundation for ground operations and communications infrastructure,” according to an SCC press release. 

“We aim to deliver resilient, integrated MW/MT solutions from MEO to counter emerging hypersonic and other missile threats,” Bogstie said. “Executing on our mission to field combat-ready forces is why this architecture is crucial for safeguarding the nation and its allies, providing regional global missile defense capabilities, and operating in a contested environment.”

Boeing’s Millenium Space Systems and Raytheon each received contracts in January for the Epoch 1 prototypes, and budget documents for fiscal 2024 indicated that the Space Force plans to buy three space vehicles from Raytheon and six from Millenium. In June, L3Harris became the third potential vendor for Epoch 1 when it received a one-year contract for sensor payload design. 

Although Space Systems Command did not specify in its release Monday which vendors completed critical design review or which six space vehicles would move into production, Millennium Space announced Monday that it had passed the review for the program and is preparing for “production and integration.”

“Following completion of the space vehicle CDR, SSC exercised contract options for space vehicles two and three and the sole-source award for space vehicles four through six,” a company press release stated.

In a statement to DefenseScoop on Tuesday,  Lt. Col. Nathan Terrazone, materiel leader in SSC’s Space Sensing Resilient Missile Warning Epoch 1 program office, said: “Millennium Space Systems has passed CDR and will commence production of their six Epoch 1 space vehicles. Space Systems Command & Raytheon continue to work together to complete Raytheon’s remaining CDR actions and move forward on production of the remaining three Epoch 1 space vehicles.”

Along with the initial missile warning and missile-tracking capabilities, Epoch 1 will serve as prototypes for subsequent epochs — planned for every two to three years. SSC plans to award contracts for Epoch 2 in late 2024 or early 2025, according to a report from Breaking Defense.

Updated on Nov. 28, 2023 at 12:40 PM: This story has been updated to include comment from Lt. Col. Nathan Terrazone at Space Systems Command.

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The payloads were carried by United Launch Alliance on board one of the company’s Atlas V rockets. The event took place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff was initially scheduled for Aug. 29 but got scrapped due to Hurricane Idalia making its way across the Florida coast. It was rescheduled for Saturday but was postponed until the following day “due to an issue found during a prelaunch ordnance circuit continuity check,” according to a ULA post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

NRO Director Christopher Scolese told reporters in August prior to the launch that Silentbarker underscores an important burgeoning partnership between his spy agency and the Space Force.

“Working together, we’ve developed a system in a relatively short amount of time that’s going to provide us with unprecedented coverage of what’s going on in the [geosynchronous] belt so that we can understand the intentions of other countries to see what they’re doing in the GEO belt, to see if there’s any indications of threats or if it’s just normal,” he said.

Details about the Silentbarker satellites — including any contractors involved or what specific capabilities are included with the payloads — have largely been kept secret since the NRO began working with the Pentagon on the program. However, Scolese confirmed that the entire constellation will eventually include multiple payloads that will keep track of objects stationed in geosynchronous orbit. 

Scolese described the constellation as a “watchdog” for the GEO regime, which is about 22,236 miles above the Earth’s equator and a difficult area of space to monitor from the ground. Silentbarker will allow the Space Force and the NRO to have a better understanding of what’s happening in that orbit, where a number of critical space assets are.

“We also want to know if there is something going on that is unexpected or shouldn’t be going on that could potentially represent a threat to a high value asset — either ours or one of our allies,” he said.

Space domain awareness is considered a priority mission for the Space Force, especially as more military and commercial assets are launched into space and that realm becomes increasingly contested. The service is actively working to close current capability gaps that prevent it from having adequate data on what’s happening in space.

In the case of Silentbarker, moving the capability on orbit offers unprecedented opportunities for sensing objects in the GEO regime, according to Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, commander of Space Systems Command — the Space Force’s acquisition arm.

“Today, we primarily rely on our ground-based radars. Our ground-based radars are pretty exquisite, but they pretty much can only see about a basketball-sided object in space. And because of the challenges of day, night and weather, it gets extremely hard to maintain custody of those objects,” Guetlein said during the roundtable with reporters. “By actually moving the sensor into orbit with those objects, we can actually not only detect smaller objects, but maintain custody of them.”

The Space Force requested $115.6 million in fiscal 2024 for Silentbarker, which includes “on-orbit support” in order to meet initial operational capability and a continued development of the Silentbarker “expansion” increment to achieve full operational capability, according to budget documents. The constellation is on track to meet full operational capability by 2026, Scolese said.

The payloads launched Saturday will now undergo a checkout phase that could range from 30 to 90 days, he noted.

Once full operational capability is achieved, Silentbarker will be maintained by NRO while data gathered from the satellites will be sent to the National Defense Space Center jointly operated by NRO and U.S. Space Command, the combatant command responsible for American military operations in space.

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The systems are now scheduled to be launched Saturday with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This will be the second launch for Tranche 0. The previous one occurred in April, which saw the first 10 satellites go into orbit.

After the launch service provider scrubbed both the original launch attempt Thursday and the rescheduled one on Friday, the next opportunity for lift off will be Saturday, according to a post from SpaceX on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Ten of the satellites from the forthcoming launch will be data transport systems made by Lockheed Martin for the Tranche 0 transport later. The remaining three — including two from SpaceX and one from York Space Systems — are for missile warning and tracking. 

Tranche 0 is made up of demonstration satellites for SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), which is envisioned as a multi-layer configuration of hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbit that offer new and augmented data transport and missile warning and tracking capabilities for the U.S. military.

“We’re looking to show that you can build out sort of a proliferated architecture that allows you to do things like tactical data links, beyond-line-of-sight targeting, and advanced missile detection and tracking,” Mike Eppolito, Tranche 0 program director, told reporters Wednesday ahead of launch. “Those are sort of the three core things that we’re looking to demonstrate on Tranche 0.”

The PWSA is considered a key piece to the Pentagon-wide effort known as Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2). The new warfighting concept aims to connect all of the services’ sensors and shooters under a single network, and the SDA’s satellites are intended to enable rapid collection and transfer of critical decision-making data.

Overall, Tranche 0 will include 27 satellites on orbit. Of those, 19 systems will be in the transport layer carrying optical communications terminals, and seven will also have the Link 16 tactical data link — a capability that will be demonstrated from space for the first time, Eppolito said.

The remaining eight missile warning and tracking satellites have wide-field-of-view sensors on them that will be able to spot missiles and keep tabs on them across a wide area, he added.

SDA originally planned for 28 spacecraft on orbit, but decided to keep one tracking satellite made by York Space Systems on the ground to serve as a testbed for future capabilities, Eppolito said. 

“We understand that software development and the applications that run on board are going to be a critical enabling element for PWSA. So, we believe that having that testbed on the ground will pay off for both the current tranche in terms of demonstrating things before we update the [space vehicles] on orbit,” he said. “It will also be used for future tranches in terms of learning on that satellite, which could then be applied to future tranches.”

While Tranche 0 was initially scheduled to just have two launches, SDA is now targeting a third launch in partnership with the Missile Defense Agency for the last set of four missile warning and tracking satellites made by L3Harris. A firm date has not been set, but the agency is looking to get the payloads on orbit before the end of 2023, Eppolito said.

The MDA is launching its own missile warning and tracking satellite made by L3Harris as part of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor Program this year. Eppolito said there are advantages in launching and testing together because the payloads for MDA and SDA have different capabilities that can be used tangentially.

“The benefit of that will be that we’ll be able to see the same targets from both the MDA satellites and SDA satellites, demonstrating both the medium field-of-view and wide field-of-view tracking payloads all together on the same target,” he said.

The first 10 Tranche 0 systems already on orbit — which include eight data transport platforms manufactured by York Space Systems and two missile tracking platforms by SpaceX — have made it through checkout, but some are still working out kinks, Eppolito said. The tracking satellites have sent the first images collected from the payloads to ground stations, but the agency has run into some “policy issues” that are preventing them from conducting Link 16 tests, he said.

“From a technical standpoint, we’ve gotten through all the checkout leading up until that policy hurdle,” he said. “As soon as we get approval there, we plan to move forward with that checkout.”

Once all of Tranche 0 is in orbit and the concept proved, SDA plans to begin launching satellites that carry operational capabilities. The first Tranche 1 payloads are slated to fly in September 2024, and the agency hopes to stay on an aggressive launch schedule afterwards.

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Under the prototype agreements, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman will each provide 36 spacecraft for the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The Tranche 2 transport layer will eventually consist of 216 satellites that enable global communications capabilities for the U.S. military.

The agreements are worth a combined total of $1.5 billion, according to SDA. Lockheed Martin announced it received approximately $816 million for its 36 satellites, while Northrop Grumman received $733 million.

The agency aims to begin its year-long monthly launch campaign for the Tranche 2 transport layer satellites in September 2026, according to the SDA release. 

The PWSA is expected to include hundreds of spacecraft in low-Earth orbit that carry critical technologies for satellite communications, data transport, missile warning and missile tracking.

The transport layer is considered a key piece to achieving Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2), the Pentagon-wide effort to connect all of the services’ sensors and shooters under a single network. The satellites will enable “low-latency data transport, sensor-to-shooter connectivity and tactical satellite communication (TACSATCOM) direct to platform,” an SDA release stated.

The agency launched its first batch of 10 satellites known as Tranche 0 in April, and aims to launch the remaining systems in the fall. After demonstrations for Tranche 0, SDA plans to begin launching the Tranche 1 constellation — which will be the first operational tranche — in September 2024. Those satellites will begin providing capabilities to warfighters in 2025.

Both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, as well as York Space Systems, were previously contracted to build and operate the Tranche 1 transport layer of satellites. Lockheed Martin also provided 10 satellites for the Tranche 0 transport layer.

While the transport layer in Tranche 1 will give warfighters regional communications, Tranche 2 will augment those capabilities and form a communications network that provides resilient and fast data transport capabilities from anywhere in the world, SDA Director David Tournear said in April at the Mitchell Institute’s Space Power Forum.

“Tranche 2 brings global persistence for all our capabilities in Tranche 1 and adds advanced tactical data links and future proliferated missions. The Beta variant of the Tranche 2 Transport Layer vehicles are similar to Tranche 1 Transport Layer vehicles while also integrating advanced tactical communication technology demonstrated by the Tranche 1 Development and Experimentation System (T1DES),” Tournear said Monday in a statement.

According to SDA’s solicitation for the Beta instantiation, the agency was looking for satellites that could provide advanced communications and data transfer in low-Earth orbit via S-Band, Ultra High Frequency Satellite Communications and Integrated Broadcast Service links. 

Along with the Beta satellite variants, SDA will award contracts for additional Alpha and Gamma variants that together will form the Tranche 2 transport layer. The agency released a solicitation for the Alpha variants in July, which will include payloads and subsystems for optical cross-links, Ka-band, Link-16 and onboard battle management processing. 

The Gamma variant will be similar to the Beta satellites, with additional requirements for advanced waveforms, Tournear said in April.

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