“We have six more launches in Tranche 1, and we start on the Tranche 2 campaign. We’re starting to get pretty close to both of those,” GP Sandhoo said.
The Space Development Agency is getting closer to completing what the agency calls “Tranche 1” of its planned constellation of small and inexpensive satellites.
SDA director Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo said during the Air and Space Forces Association’s annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference last week that the agency wants to complete two more launches by the end of 2026, and finish the Tranche 1 campaign by spring 2027.
“We have six more launches in Tranche 1, and we start on the Tranche 2 campaign. At this point, we’re starting to get pretty close to both of those,” Sandhoo told reporters last week.
“We should have our next launch within the next three weeks or so… We are pretty close to it, and that will get us four launches, four planes of transport satellites on orbit… That leaves two satellite planes for transport in Tranche 1, and then four planes for tracking in Tranche 1. So that is the focus in the next six to eight months, is trying to get those up there,” he added.
The agency recently launched 21 Tranche 1 transport satellites after it faced a number of issues with the first 42 Tranche 1 transport layer satellites by York Space Systems and Lockheed Martin.
The agency has faced a number of challenges, including supply chain issues and technical hurdles deploying Tranche 1 satellites. So far, SDA has fielded 63 of the 154 planned satellites.
Sandhoo previously told reporters there were a number of software and hardware issues that contributed to a months-long pause the agency had to take before the next launch.
“But one thing I would say is that at least in the difference between a York first plane launch and York second plane launch, the time it took to check out the second plane was two to three times faster. So the teams learned. They’ve got things done much much quicker. I do expect the same as we do multiple launches as we go forward,” Sandhoo said.
Supply chain issues, however, still persist, Sandhoo said.
Meanwhile, Congress is pushing to eliminate the Space Development Agency as an independent organization as part of the Space Force’s acquisition reform efforts.
Sandhoo said he “has some concerns, but not too many” — as long as the agency is able to keep some of its unique authorities, such as special hiring and original classification authorities, the move would be “just a name change.”
“We have special hiring authorities which allows us to bring people from industry who have done this for a long time, and they are not career employees. They can come for four years and help us just pitch in, grind it out and get that done. So those are some of the unique things that might be impacted… On the original classification authorities — those are authorities that we had as a director that we can just move out. I don’t have to go to anybody to get those permissions. I could just make those decisions,” Sandhoo said.
“But if you lose some of those, then there will be some challenges we will have to navigate,” he added.
While it is still unclear what the final language in the annual defense bill will look like, Sandhoo acknowledged it is possible Congress will dissolve the organization.
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