Overview
- The Space Development Agency on July 13 awarded about $1.75 billion in AMDT3 contracts to L3Harris and Sierra Space to build 36 Tracking Layer satellites for low Earth orbit.
- L3Harris received roughly $955 million to produce 18 missile‑defense variant satellites carrying medium‑field‑of‑view infrared sensors derived from its HBTSS work, while Sierra Space won up to $798 million for 18 warning/tracking satellites based on its Horizon/Eclipse platform.
- Both companies say production and qualification activity has begun at U.S. facilities in Indiana and Florida, with the satellites scheduled to be available for launch by the end of 2028 and subject to normal development, integration and launch risks.
- SDA says the new spacecraft will operate through a common ground system and interoperate with earlier Tranche Tracking Layer assets to provide low‑latency detection, tracking and targeting data for homeland and deployed force missile warning.
- The awards reflect SDA's faster, commercialized acquisition model and will expand U.S. space‑based tracking capacity, a change that could speed missile‑warning timelines for people on the ground while creating program‑management challenges across orbital planes, launches and system integration.