The United States Space Development Agency (SDA) announced on Monday contracts with a total value of $1.3 billion for producing 100 communication satellites to Northrop Grumman Corporation and York Space Systems.
The agreement commissioned Northrop Grumman to build 38 satellites for $732 million while York Space will receive $617 million for 67 space vehicles. Both companies have the assignment of building and operating the Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) - Alpha variant prototype constellation which will deliver "global communications access and deliver persistent, regional, and encrypted connectivity to support missions like beyond-line-of-sight targeting and missile warning and missile tracking of advance missile threats as part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture," the defense agency said in a statement.
It is expected that the first "orbital plane of the T2TL-Alpha constellation" will be deployed by September 2026.
