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Space Development Agency

Space Development Agency is a U.S. defense space acquisition agency founded on 2019-03-12 and now subordinate to the U.S. Space Force, with headquarters at 1670 Air Force Pentagon in Washington, DC.^[1]^[2] Its core programme is the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a low-Earth-orbit military architecture organized around transport, tracking, battle-management, custody, navigation, ground-and-launch, and futures layers.^[1] For Earth-observation buyers, the key distinction is that SDA's tracking work uses infrared missile-warning and missile-tracking sensors, while its transport layer is a mesh communications relay using optical inter-satellite links and RF rather than an Earth-observation data service.^[1] Tranche 0 launched in April 2023, Tranche 1 is operational, and Tranche 2 covers 270 satellites planned for late-2026 launches.^[1]^[2] December 2025 Tranche 3 tracking awards cover 72 missile-warning and tracking satellites targeted for FY2029 launch.^[3] Dr Gurpartap Sandhoo became SDA director on 2026-05-11, and a May 2026 draft FY2026 NDAA provision proposed dissolving SDA into the Space Force Rapid Capabilities Office.^[4]^[5]

Sources

[1]About - Space Development Agencyagency doc2026-06-20Official SDA mission, PWSA architecture layers, founding date 2019-03-12, HQ address
[2]Space Development Agency - Wikipediacommunity2026-06-20Founding, USSF transfer 2022, PWSA overview, tranche history
[3]SDA awards roughly $3.5B to 4 companies for 72 missile tracking and warning satellites - Spaceflight Nowthird party2026-06-20Tranche 3 Tracking Layer OTA awards Dec 2025; 4 vendors 18 sv each = 72 total; FY2029 launch
[4]Sandhoo named Space Development Agency director, PAE for missile warning and tracking - DefenseScoopthird party2026-06-20Director appointment effective 2026-05-11; dual role as PAE Missile Warning
[5]Draft NDAA would dissolve Space Development Agency - DefenseScoopthird party2026-06-20FY2026 NDAA draft May 2026; SDA dissolution proposal; outcome uncertain

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Space Development Agency. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V. https://eo-atlas.org/companies/sda-us (CC BY 4.0)

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@misc{eoatlas:companies:sda-us,
  title = {Space Development Agency},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/companies/sda-us}
}