WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency is planning a brand new procurement of 100 satellites to proceed to construct out a military constellation in low Earth orbit.
In a May 11 draft solicitation, the agency laid out its requirements for 100 “Alpha” satellites that shall be a part of a mesh network referred to as Transport Layer Tranche 2.
The Transport Layer Tranche 2 also includes 72 “Beta” satellites for which SDA already has requested bids.
The procurement of 100 Alpha satellites shall be split between two vendors.
Each Alpha satellite can have three optical communications terminals, Ka-band and Link 16 payloads . These satellites shall be a part of a “communications network that can provide resilient, low-latency, high throughput data transfer to and from any location on the globe,” said SDA.
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 world wide, communicating classified data reminiscent of early warnings of missile launches.
The constellation, which SDA calls the proliferated warfighter space architecture, features a Transport Layer of interconnected communications satellites and a Tracking Layer of missile-detection and warning sensor satellites.
Transport Layer Tranche 2 to launch in 2026
The agency already has acquired satellites for Tranche 0 and Tranche 1 of the Transport Layer and the Tracking Layer. The primary launch of Tranche 0 satellites took place in April. Tranche 1 is projected to launch in 2024 and Tranche 2 in 2026.
The proliferated constellation is made up of small satellites supplied by multiple vendors, all interconnected via optical laser links.
The Transport Layer Tranche 2 shall be SDA’s largest procurement so far.
SDA said Tranche 2, when deployed, will add enough nodes to the network to supply global coverage for U.S. military users.