The U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) on Jan. 8 announced an up to $515 million award to Rocket Lab for 18 Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL)-Beta satellites that will bring the total T2TL-Beta constellation to 90.
SDA Director Derek Tournear said on Dec. 7 that the agency had awarded about $1.5 billion in contracts to Northrop Grumman [NOC] and Lockheed Martin [LMT] for 72 T2TL-Beta satellites (Defense Daily, Dec. 7, 2023).
SDA said that Rocket Lab’s 18 T2TL-Beta satellites “will be operated from lower inclination orbits” than the other 72 to improve the constellation’s “overall robustness.”
Rocket Lab said in a statement that the $515 million contract includes a “$489 million base plus $26 million of incentives and options and will be carried out by Rocket Lab National Security, the company’s wholly owned subsidiary created to serve the unique needs of the U.S. defense and intelligence community and its allies.”
“This contract marks the beginning of Rocket Lab’s new era as a leading satellite prime,” Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said in the company’s statement.
The T2TL-Beta satellites are to transmit over Ultra High Frequency S-band for tactical satellite communications.
The earlier T2TL-Alpha satellites are to transmit beyond line-of-sight Link 16 data to military forces from space, while T2TL-Beta satellites are to transmit over Ultra High Frequency S-band for tactical satellite communications.
T2TL satellites, which are to begin launches in September 2026, are to have three optical communications terminals (OCTs), and the Gamma satellites are to add a fourth OCT and a classified “Warlock mission payload,” SDA has said. The T2TL-Gamma satellites are to launch by June 1, 2027.
Tranche 2 is to have about 270 Transport and Tracking Layer satellites. The SDA Transport Layer satellites are to provide rapid sensor to shooter data, while the Tracking Layer satellites are to advance detection and tracking of hypersonic and ballistic missiles.
SDA has said that the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture of hundreds of satellites at 1,000 km altitude in low Earth orbit (LEO) will, due to sheer scale and distance, prevent advanced adversaries’ expensive weapons, such as direct ascent anti-satellite missiles and directed energy, from shutting down DoD’s future LEO communications grid.