SDA awards $1.3B for 100 T2TL-Alpha variant satellites

The Space Development Agency has awarded $1.3 billion to Northrop Grumman and York Space Systems to build 100 Alpha variant satellites for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer, the agency announced today.

According to the announcement, the T2TL-Alpha variant is part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture that aims to provide global communication access and deliver “persistent, regional and encrypted connectivity to support missions.”

The agency awarded $617 million to York Space Systems to build and deliver 62 TLT2-Alpha variant space vehicles across eight orbital planes. At the same time, Northrop was awarded $732 million to build and deliver 38 T2TL-Alpha space vehicles across two orbital planes.

“The T2TL Alpha awards demonstrate our forward momentum in the procurement phase for Tranche 2 of the PWSA to support delivery beginning in 2026,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said.

“With the Beta variant and now the Alpha constellation, we’ll have more than 170 T2TL satellites on order. SDA is leading the DOD into launching proliferated constellations into low-Earth orbit to enhance responsiveness, resilience, survivability and warfighting capability beyond our current space systems architecture,” he added.

The agency in August awarded Lockheed Martin and Northrop contracts to build 72 data transport for Tranche 2 Transport Layer-Beta variant satellites. Additionally, the agency recently issued a request for information for developing warlock capacity for the T2TL-Gamma variant satellite constellation.

The agency noted the details of the Gamma variant RFI is classified due to the sensitive nature of the capabilities being sought.