SDA Taps Raytheon for Seven More Missile-Tracking Satellites

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SDA Taps Raytheon for Seven More Missile-Tracking Satellites
By: Greg Hadley - Air & Space forces Magazine - 03-04-23
Re: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/sd...ng-satellites/

Artist's rendering of Space Development Agency’s Tracking Layer of satellites. Courtesy of Raytheon.
Re: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/ap...n-900x600.jpeg

The Space Development Agency has added another batch of missile-tracking satellites to its expansive constellation, awarding Raytheon a $250 million contract March 2 to build seven spacecraft.

Those satellites will join 28 others already ordered in SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. Contracts for the first 28 were awarded in July, split evenly between L3Harris and Northrop Grumman Strategic Space Systems.

The 35 satellites now planned make up Tranche 1 of the Tracking Layer; additional funds appropriated by Congress made the expansion possible, said agency spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea, calling the Raytheon satellites as the tranche’s “fifth orbital plane.”

“This fifth plane award adds sensor diversity to our T1 Tracking constellation and achieved a price point of approximately $40 million per [satellite],” Elzea said. The Raytheon price was less than those of L3Harris and Northrop Grumman.

The extra satellites will launch in late 2025, Elzea said; the other Tranche 1 Tracking Layer satellites are to begin launching in April 2025, an accelerated timeline also thanks to added funding from Congress. Previously, the satellites were planned for launch in 2026.

The Tracking Layer is designed to increase the Pentagon’s capacity to detect and track missile launches and flights, in particular hypersonic missiles.

“Developing a resilient and affordable proliferated satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit will improve our ability to track emerging threats like hypersonic missiles,” Dave Broadbent, president of Space & C2 at Raytheon Intelligence & Space, said in a statement. “Continuing to develop this architecture with SDA and our industry partners will be a high priority for us in the coming months.”

Raytheon was one of the initial bidders for Tranche 0 of the Tracking Layer but lost out to L3Harris and SpaceX, who were selected to build four satellites each. Raytheon protested but lost.

This is the first time Raytheon has been selected to contribute any satellites to the PWSA—York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris are all building satellites as part of Tranche 0 and Tranche 1 of the Tracking Layer and Transport Layer.

SDA director Derek M. Tournear wants to avoid vendor lock by spreading contracts among firms, maximizing competition in each tranche. His aim is to launch new tranches every two years, thereby continuously upgrading capabilities in the proliferated satellite constellation.

The very first Tranche 0 launches, delayed so far due top “careful analysis and … input” from contractors, is now scheduled for launch this month. Tranche 0 includes 28 satellites—20 in the Transport Layer, responsible for communications and data transmission, and eight in the Tracking Layer, responsible for missile tracking and warning. Tranche 1 will include a planned 126 satellites in the Transport Layer and 35 in the Tracking Layer, plus others for experimentation.
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