Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have been awarded more than $1.5bn to build 72 military space satellites for a missile warning system

The US Space Development Agency (SDA) announced that it has signed contracts with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Both companies will build satellites for the Transport Layer Tranche 2 (T2TL) constellation.

Here's What We Know

SDA is part of the US Space Force. The agency has allocated a total of more than $1.5 billion. Northrop Grumman received $733 million and Lockheed Martin received $816 million. Each company will develop 36 spacecraft for T2TL.

The new military satellites will be part of the third generation of the warfighting space system architecture, dubbed Trance 0. The U.S. Space Force wants to deploy hundreds of small satellites in low Earth orbit that will be used for missile warning.

Both companies already have experience building satellites for SDA. Lockheed Martin has developed 10 vehicles for Tranche 0, which will be launched later this year. Northrop Grumman is also working on 42 Tranche 1 satellites. Northrop Grumman is also building 42 Tranche 1 satellites, which will be launched late next year.

SDA wants to send all 72 Tranche 2 satellites into orbit in 2026.

Source: SDA