WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency awarded Northrop Grumman a $732 million contract for 38 communications satellites that will probably be a part of the U.S. military’s low Earth orbit space architecture, the corporate announced Oct. 30.
These satellites are for the portion of SDA’s mesh network often known as Transport Layer Tranche 2 Alpha that may have a complete of 100 satellites. The agency chosen York Space Systems to construct the opposite 62 spacecraft.
Northrop Grumman’s contract includes ground systems and five years of operations and sustainment. The agreement includes an incentive payment for on-time delivery.
The Alpha satellites are projected to launch in late 2026.
Northrop won order for Alpha and Beta satellites
SDA, a company under the U.S. Space Force, is constructing a layered network of military satellites. The Transport Layer will function a tactical network to maneuver data to users all over the world, transmitting classified data comparable to early warnings of missile launches.
Alpha satellites carry optical communications terminals, Ka-band communications and Link 16 data transmission payloads. Transport Layer Tranche 2 also includes 72 Beta satellites that SDA recently ordered from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. These carry more complex communications payloads.
Northrop Grumman to this point has won orders from SDA for 132 satellites for the Transport and the Tracking Layer. Each layers are designed to interoperate in space using a typical data standard allowing satellites made by various manufacturers to speak with each other.