Sierra Space Successfully Completes Key Development Milestone for SDA Missile Warning and Tracking Satellites
Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense-tech prime that is Building a Platform in Space to Benefit Life on Earth® and protect economic freedom in the Orbital Age®, announced today the successful completion of Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the missile warning and tracking satellites the company is developing for the Space Development Agency (SDA) under a prime contract valued at $740 million.
“In response to the evolving threat environment, we are retooling our commercial capacity to focus on revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base through innovative satellite and spacecraft systems technology”Post this
The satellites are part of the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, specifically the Tranche 2 Tracking Layer, which is a segment of the Defense Department’s Low Earth Orbit constellation. The agency awarded the contract to Sierra Space through an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) in January 2024 for the design, production, delivery, operations and sustainment of 16 missile warning and tracking satellites, as well as two (2) satellites for missile defense with fire control fidelity. Additionally, the agreement includes two operational ground segments.
“In response to the evolving threat environment, we are retooling our commercial capacity to focus on revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base through innovative satellite and spacecraft systems technology,” said Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space. “Our company is focused on innovation at speed to support an entirely new era in National Security Space – at Sierra Space we care deeply for this planet and have the responsibility to protect it.”
Sierra Space’s solution aims to enhance the capability to provide global, persistent indications, detection, warning, and tracking of conventional and advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems. The company’s solution also offers preliminary missile defense capability by incorporating fire control quality sensors into the constellation. These sensors will generate fire control quality tracks that enable missile defense kill chains, a critical defense capability, to the warfighter.
Since 2023, Sierra Space has secured $1.5 billion in national security and defense contracts for the production of 30 satellites, including the SDA’s Tranche 2 Tracking Layer deliverables. In addition, Sierra Space continues to make strides in its spacecraft systems business, boasting more than 20 active contracts for solar arrays and other components.
Sierra Space will develop, integrate, and test its space vehicles at its satellite production facilities in Colorado.
About Sierra Space
Sierra Space is a leading commercial space company at the forefront of innovation and the commercialization of space in the Orbital Age®, building an end-to-end business and technology platform in space to benefit life on Earth. With more than 30 years and 500 missions of space flight heritage, the company is reinventing both space transportation with Dream Chaser®, the world’s only commercial spaceplane, and the future of space destinations with the company’s inflatable and expandable space station technology. Using commercial business models, the company is also delivering orbital services to commercial, DoD and national security organizations, expanding production capacity to meet the needs of constellation programs. In addition, Sierra Space builds a host of systems and subsystems across solar power, mechanics and motion control, environmental control, life support, propulsion and thermal control, offering myriad space-as-a-service solutions for the new space economy.
