Plans for the Space Force’s Space Development Agency to kick-start its next phase of launches this month is on hold due to supplier delays, according to its director Derek Tournear.
September was supposed to be the start of a 10-month streak of regular SDA launches to put the agency’s Tranche 1 satellites — which will provide initial operational capability — in low Earth orbit. Those spacecraft will now likely fly at the end of this year or early next, Tournear said Wednesday at the Defense News Conference.
The delays are primarily linked to financial troubles among some SDA vendors who have struggled to scale their manufacturing capacity, he said. That includes California-based Mynaric, which supplies optical terminals to several of the agency’s satellite providers and has struggled to ramp up production.
“These are things we have to work through with our primes, our spacecraft providers, to make sure they can continue to pull that schedule in when they have those kinds of delays,” Tournear said.
The Tranche 1 satellites are part of SDA’s broader proliferated space architecture, which it envisions will eventually include hundreds of missile tracking and data transport spacecraft operating from low Earth orbit, about 1,200 miles above the equator.
SDA started launching its Tranche 0 satellites in April 2023 and as of February has put all 27 of those spacecraft in orbit. That launch plan also hit a snag after supply chain issues tied to the COVID-19 pandemic stalled the first mission by about six months.
A July report from The Aerospace Corporation raised questions about whether these early setbacks indicate the agency’s plan to build and launch satellites on a two-year cadence — refreshing technology with each new tranche — is too ambitious. The study highlights the challenge of continuous modernization and production scaling within a still-maturing small satellite industrial base.
“These examples may become less common as SDA launches and operates more and more satellites, but developing and integrating new technologies without disrupting launch schedules or existing capabilities will not be easy,” it states.
Tournear attributed the launch delays to “growing pains” within the industrial base and the agency, which was formed five years ago. The two-year launch and technology refresh cycle is key to SDA’s model, so he doesn’t see that approach changing. Instead, the hope is that as companies learn and adapt to this model, they face fewer supply and schedule challenges.
If things progress as planned, he added, many of those kinks will be worked through by the time Tranche 2 satellites start to launch in 2026.
“I think as industry grows, they get more into this mindset of production delivery versus program management, which is a different mindset for people doing defense contracting,” Tournear said. “I think we’ll see that they’ll be able to hit the milestones a little easier, but right now we’re in that growing pain.”
Once in orbit, the Tranche 1 satellites are slated to hit their operational acceptance milestone by 2025. SDA is also working to field the ground systems that will operate those spacecraft. An agency official told Defense News those systems are in their testing phase and SDA will hold a readiness review this fall. The agency previously planned to have authority to operate the ground segment in the spring, but is now aiming to hit that milestone before Tranche 1 launches.
Tranche 2 satellites are in the design phase, with companies either completing or approaching a critical design review.
Meanwhile, SDA convened its warfighter council last month to discuss requirements for Tranche 3 satellites, which will fly in 2028. The council is made up of combatant commanders and other military users who sign off on the agency’s capability plans.
For Tranche 3 transport satellites, SDA is seeking more advanced phased arrays, which will allow spacecraft to connect with more users on the ground — particularly tactical forces that rely on an S-band signal.
On the missile warning and tracking side, Tournear said the goal is to achieve global missile defense coverage through its Tranche 3 satellites, which means those spacecraft will be able to track an advanced missile through its entire flight, transmit data and intercept.
SDA hasn’t determined the number of satellites it will need in Tranche 3, but Tournear noted that the agency plans to issue solicitations for those spacecraft next year.
Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.
