The auditory rendition of this piece is presented by the Air & Space Forces Association, an organization that reveres and aids our Airmen, Guardians, and their relatives. More information is available at afa.org
In the previous autumn, the Space Development Agency deployed its initial pair of operational satellite groups. This deployment was intended to initiate a ten-month endeavor aimed at filling its widespread data conveyance and missile monitoring satellite network.
Half a year later, the agency and its suppliers have yet to progress these initial satellites through the formal validation phase, and it now lags several months behind its ambitious deployment schedule due to disruptions in the supply chain and technical glitches associated with at least one satellite provider.
Some of the impediments the agency encountered were beyond its control, such as an unprecedented 45-day governmental shutdown that severely restricted its predominantly civilian workforce. Other issues, according to SDA Director Gurpartap Sandhoo, represent developmental challenges—ranging from overseeing a strained supply network to coordinating tight launch timetables and managing larger satellite fleets.
“I believe the most significant insight we’ve gained throughout this entire journey of a distributed architecture is identifying all the bottlenecks present in our previous procurement methods, when acquiring items individually versus at scale,” Sandhoo communicated to Air & Space Forces Magazine. “One doesn’t discern the vulnerabilities until the actual execution.”
Established in 2019 with the goal of revolutionizing the Pentagon’s conventional practice of acquiring small quantities of sophisticated satellites and taking years to deploy them, SDA’s principal objective is to deliver smaller satellites in vast numbers on a biennial cycle. A core tenet of its methodology is to routinely update its constellation with new tiers of satellites as technology progresses and demands evolve, a strategy termed spiral evolution.
This satellite array, known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, currently encompasses both data transmission and missile alert, defense, and tracking satellites. Tranche 0, launched in 2023 and 2024, comprised 27 satellites designed to demonstrate capabilities such as laser communications with ground stations and between spacecraft and aircraft. The 42 satellites deployed last fall were part of Tranche 1, intended to be the inaugural operational segment, which will ultimately comprise approximately 154 spacecraft.
The agency has been hailed as an exemplar of swiftness and adaptability, and at a juncture when Pentagon officials are vigorously pushing to alter the Defense Department’s approach to developing and acquiring capabilities, its scaling difficulties offer a preview of what other initiatives might encounter as leaders demand an increase in everything—from ammunition and unmanned aerial vehicles to satellites and software.
Scaling Challenges
Sandhoo characterized SDA’s most recent obstacles as originating within the supply chain, a recurring problem. Supply limitations, particularly for optical communication terminals and encryption devices, have led to delays across SDA’s industrial base, which for Tranche 1 includes four suppliers: Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems are each constructing 42 transport satellites; L3Harris is assembling 14 missile warning and tracking satellites; and Northrop Grumman is building 14 tracking and 42 transport satellites.
These supply chain difficulties contributed to timeline slippages that pushed the initial Tranche 1 launch from September 2024 to September 2025. Subsequent to that postponement, the first two Tranche 1 missions proceeded as scheduled within a month of each other. The September mission carried 21 of York’s satellites, and the October flight—occurring precisely amid last year’s government shutdown—included 21 Lockheed satellites.
As launch operations are permitted to continue during a federal funding interruption, the agency was able to summon a limited contingent of civilian personnel to execute the October launch. However, preparations for the subsequent flight, then slated for November, ground to a halt during the shutdown, Sandhoo explained. Furthermore, the agency possessed only a small crew to assist companies in managing the initial on-orbit verification of the first satellites. Even after the government recommenced operations in mid-November, recovery required time.
SDA initially projected that completing the on-orbit verification and functional testing processes would take four to six months, but establishing initial contact with the satellites proved more time-consuming than anticipated for both companies, and Lockheed has yet to make contact with one of its spacecraft, Sandhoo stated. He noted the possibility that this particular satellite might still become active—some spacecraft in Tranche 0 remained “silent” for months after deployment—but if it does not, there is built-in redundancy within the constellation, and its absence should not affect overall performance.
“We can complete our orbital planes with 16 or 17 [satellites],” Sandhoo affirmed. “Redundancy is incorporated into the architecture.”
A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin stated that the firm is collaborating closely with SDA “to ensure the constellation’s integrity,” adding that 95 percent of its satellites are in good working order. The company did not disclose specifics regarding the potential cause of the issue.
“We maintain full dedication to the resilience and triumph of the Transport Layer initiative and will persistently contribute to overall mission capability through impending deployments,” the representative remarked.
Sandhoo indicated that the checkout complications set the agency back by two to three months, and additional challenges could emerge during the remainder of functional testing, which confirms the payload’s operational status and is conducted by the constellation’s ground system rather than within the companies’ manufacturing facilities.
As SDA, York, and Lockheed strive to transition the initial satellites into active service, planning for the subsequent launch is also in progress. That mission is already four months behind schedule, partly due to the shutdown but also because of an anomaly investigation concerning SpaceX’s Falcon 9—which is slated to carry out the mission—and a software malfunction linked to satellites fabricated by SDA’s third transport provider, Northrop Grumman.
Falcon 9 is now operational again after a brief cessation in early February, but Northrop Grumman and SDA are still endeavoring to resolve the software problem, which surfaced just prior to the company’s satellites being scheduled for shipment to the launch site.
A representative for Northrop stated that the company is collaborating closely with SDA and other associates on “rigorous final preparations” of its satellites. They did not elaborate on the nature of the software issue or indicate when the firm anticipates completing the rectification. Sandhoo suggested that it is preferable to address the problem on the ground before launch—a lesson learned following its initial Tranche 1 deployments.
He mentioned that the agency is contemplating reassigning another vendor’s second plane of satellites, either Lockheed’s or York’s, to its next launch to allow more time for problem resolution but has not yet made a definitive choice. The subsequent launch could occur by late March or April, Sandhoo predicted. An SDA spokesperson later informed Air & Space Forces Magazine that the agency has not assigned a launch date and is targeting sometime this spring.
Insights Gained
While these postponements and difficulties have disrupted the schedule for activating SDA’s constellation, Sandhoo asserted that the agency is doing its utmost to diagnose the issues and implement modifications that will hopefully mitigate similar problems in the future.
For instance, during its early Tranche 1 launches, SDA identified payload processing as a primary bottleneck. To rectify this, the agency transitioned from having individual vendors manage their own processing to coordinating those plans itself. That strategy, Sandhoo explained, should provide his team greater adaptability to switch providers if one company’s payloads are not prepared for launch.
“That aligns with our principle of being able to adapt and modify and not be constrained by an existing process,” he remarked.
Sandhoo is also optimistic that the on-orbit verification and testing procedure will accelerate for its subsequent group of satellites, thanks to insights gleaned from the initial launches. With on-orbit data in hand, he stated, the team will be better equipped to foresee potential complications and avoid their recurrence.
“The objective is that the next set of checks for these orbital planes should not consume as much time as it has for this current one,” he stated. “That’s fundamentally the entire purpose of adopting a spiral model: to learn and adjust rapidly. This presented one such opportunity. We must learn and implement the necessary changes so we don’t repeat the same errors.”
The auditory rendition of this piece is presented by the Air & Space Forces Association, an organization that reveres and aids our Airmen, Guardians, and their relatives. More information is available at afa.org