SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer by Rocket Lab: status and timeline

SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer

18 military relay satellites for the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. Provides assured, resilient military data connectivity.

PilotStage 3 of 5

18 satellites under contract with SDA; delivery July 2027.

Updated Jan 2024Checked 10 Oct0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · First batch of satellites ready for integration

SDA Tranche 2 contract award ($515M)Jan 2024Complete.
Satellite design and manufacturing beginsJan 2024Complete.
First batch of satellites ready for integrationTarget 2026Current milestone.
Satellite delivery to SDATarget Jul 2027Not yet reached.
Operational deployment in orbitTarget Aug 2027Not yet reached.
Operations continue through end date or extensionTarget 2030Not yet reached.

Most important updates

Rocket Lab wins $515M Space Development Agency contract to design, build, and operate 18 military relay satellitesJan 2024

Upcoming

2026First batch of satellites ready for integration (next)
Jul 2027Satellite delivery to SDA
Jul 2027Satellites delivered to SDA
Aug 2027Operational deployment in orbit
Aug 2027Constellation becomes operational
2030Operations continue through end date or extension

Current obstacles

Manufacturing and integration paceDelivering 18 military-grade satellites on schedule requires careful quality control and integration of government-supplied payloads.
Orbital mechanics coordinationMaintaining the two-plane constellation in precise orbital geometry requires continuous station-keeping and maneuver planning.

Physics limits

Satellite bus constraintsThe satellite bus, derived from Rocket Lab's Globalstar design, has fixed power and thermal budgets that constrain payload capacity.
Launch vehicle synchronizationDeploying two separate orbital planes requires precise launch timing to achieve the target constellation geometry.

How it works

4 parts

Mission

Military data transport

18 spacecraft route encrypted military data between ground stations in SDA's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

Design

Vertical integration

Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the satellite buses and subsystems at its Long Beach facility, integrating payloads supplied by other contractors.

Redundancy

Two orbital planes

Nine satellites in each of two orbital planes provide coverage overlap and resilience; loss of any single satellite maintains network function.

Operations

Rocket Lab operates the constellation

Rocket Lab maintains the satellites through 2030, handling orbital mechanics, power management, and command/control for the DoD.

Spec sheet

Spec	SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer
Satellites in contract	18 spacecraft^R (reported)
Orbital arrangement	2 planes of 9 satellites each^R (reported)
Firm-fixed price contract	$515 million^R (reported)
Contract structure	$489M base + $26M incentives/options^R (reported)
Operations through	2030 (extendable to 2033)^R (reported)

^R reported by the company

Update log

1 update

Jan 2024

Major: Rocket Lab wins $515M Space Development Agency contract to design, build, and operate 18 military relay satellitesPressCommercial

About Rocket Lab

The team behind SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer

Rocket Lab

Electron, Neutron, satellites, parts

Rocket Lab flies the small Electron rocket from New Zealand and Virginia and is building the reusable, bigger Neutron. It also builds satellites and satellite parts, and US military satellites.

Electron is the second most-flown US-operated orbital rocket after Falcon 9.
Neutron's first flight slipped to no earlier than Q4 2026 after a tank failed in testing in Jan 2026.
Satellites and parts make most of its money; it built NASA's ESCAPADE Mars probes.

rocketlabusa.com (opens rocketlabusa.com)Company profile →

Founded: 200620 yrs
Headquarters: United StatesNew Zealand
Status: Public
Listed: RKLB (opens google.com)NASDAQ
Valuation: public
Works in: SpaceflightLaunch
Coverage: 4 programs · 16 updateslatest 2d agochecked 10 Oct
Customers: NASA (opens nasa.gov)Space Development Agency (opens sda.mil)
Partners: Blue Origin
People: Peter Beck (opens en.wikipedia.org)Founder and CEO

Spec

SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer

Satellites in contract

18 spacecraft^R (reported)

Orbital arrangement

2 planes of 9 satellites each^R (reported)

Firm-fixed price contract

$515 million^R (reported)

Contract structure

$489M base + $26M incentives/options^R (reported)

Operations through

2030 (extendable to 2033)^R (reported)