Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency, said the SDA will start a monthly launch campaign in September 2024 to deploy the first tranche of data-transport satellites to orbit, SpaceNews reported Thursday.
The 11-month launch campaign aims to send a total of 161 operational satellites that will comprise Tranche 1 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture’s transport layer.
The first tranche will include 126 Link 16 data relay satellites built by York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman and 35 missile-tracking sensor satellites from L3Harris Technologies, Northrop and RTX.
Tournear, a previous Wash100 awardee, said that expanding the global Link 16 network to space will enable the U.S. military to support terrestrial missions from space.
The SDA launched the 23 demonstration satellites, dubbed Tranche 0, on two missions aboard SpaceX rockets in April and September. The satellites have established space-to-ground connectivity using the Link 16 tactical data network.
A third launch is set in early 2024 to launch the four L3Harris-built Tranche 0 missile-tracking satellites to orbit.
