Space Development Agency (SDA) Awards $3.5 Billion to Build the Next Generation of Missile-Tracking Satellites

The United States is accelerating the shift toward a more resilient, faster, and globally persistent missile defense architecture in space. On December 19, 2025, the Space Development Agency (SDA) announced approximately $3.5 billion in awards to build 72 Tracking Layer satellites under Tranche 3 (TRKT3) of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), a cornerstone of America’s future missile warning, tracking, and defense strategy in low Earth orbit (LEO).

These satellites will dramatically expand the capabilities introduced in Tranches 1 and 2, delivering near-continuous global coverage for detecting, tracking, and defending against advanced missile threats, including hypersonic weapons.

Four Prime Contractors, One Integrated Constellation

SDA awarded Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements to four industry teams, each responsible for delivering and operating 18 satellites, with launches planned for fiscal year 2029:

• Lockheed Martin – $1.1 billion for 18 missile warning, tracking, and defense (MWTD) satellites

• Rocket Lab USA – $805 million for 18 MWTD satellites

• Northrop Grumman – $764 million for 18 missile warning/missile tracking (MW/MT) satellites

• L3Harris Technologies – $843 million for 18 MW/MT satellites

Together, these 72 space vehicles will form a globally distributed Tracking Layer organized across eight orbital planes.

From Early Warning to Fire-Control Quality Tracking

What distinguishes Tranche 3 is not just scale, but mission depth.

Half of the constellation’s payloads will support advanced missile defense missions, capable of generating fire-control quality tracks, the level of precision required to guide interceptors, not merely detect launches.

According to SDA Acting Director Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo, once TRKT3 is fully integrated with the PWSA’s Transport Layer, it will significantly improve the speed, accuracy, and continuity needed to close kill chains against advanced adversary threats.

This reflects SDA’s spiral development model: fielding new satellite generations roughly every two years, each introducing targeted technological upgrades while maintaining resilience through large-scale proliferation.

Built for Interoperability and Resilience

Each Tracking Layer satellite will be equipped with:

• Infrared (IR) mission payloads

• Optical Communication Terminals (OCTs)

• Ka-band communications payloads

• S-band backup telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) systems

Crucially, every satellite will be fully interoperable with other PWSA elements, especially the Transport Layer, operating through a common ground system. This allows mission data to flow directly over low-latency tactical links to operators and warfighters in real time.

The result is a networked sensing architecture in LEO that is harder to disrupt, faster to refresh, and better suited to modern, multi-domain conflict.

A Core Pillar of U.S. Missile Defense Strategy

The Tracking Layer is central to the PWSA’s role in expanding missile defense sensing for both Homeland Defense and Theater Defense. Integrated into the United States Space Force’s broader hybrid missile warning, tracking, and defense architecture, TRKT3 supports joint force operations across land, sea, air, cyber, and space.

In strategic terms, this award underscores a clear shift: missile defense is no longer anchored solely in a handful of exquisite satellites. It is becoming distributed, proliferated, and continuously upgraded, designed to keep pace with rapidly evolving threats.