What’s Next for Proliferated Warfare Space Architecture Tranche 3?

A year ago, we provided an update of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) because SDA announced its plans to move forward with Tranche 3 of the military’s low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation. Since then, we have had a change in administrations and a change in senior leadership within the Department of Defense (DOD). The acting director of SDA told reporters in late September that SDA is rethinking its approach to the Tranche 3 transport layer. The SDA did not include funding for the Tranche 3 transport layer in the President’s FY26 budget request instead choosing to request $277 million for the MILNET proliferated LEO constellation. MILNET is a classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) program based on SpaceX’s Starshield that is meant to be plug and play for the warfighter.

On January 23, SDA published a notice of intent to solicit proposals from industry for the PWSA Tranche 3 Transport Layer. On April 25, this solicitation was amended and delayed indefinitely “until SDA receives further budgetary guidance.” Given the amount of mandatory funding in the reconciliation bill (P.L. 119-21) for Golden Dome (over $24 billion), it is logical that the new administration would reconsider transport layer plans.

The Department of the Air Force is undertaking an Analysis of Alternatives on satellite communications that appears to be assessing using MILNET rather than a Tranche 3 open architecture with open competition. When asked about the lack of funding for the Tranche 3 Transport layer at a June Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Secretary of the Air Force Meinke responded that Tranche 2 is still fully funded and that “going forward into the future is something that’s still under consideration and we will look at the acquisition of that.”

The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) response to this non-answer was a $500 million addition to the President’s request in the Space Force’s Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) Space Technology and Prototyping account in the SAC- approved Defense appropriation bill. The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) also added $277 million (not coincidentally the amount the administration requested for MILNET) to the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the SDA Tranche 3 Transport Layer. This passed the Senate on October 9. The House does not include language related to Tranche 3 in either its appropriation or authorization bill for FY26 – perhaps because the Senate’s Defense committees are operating under a higher topline than those of the House. Funding will be negotiated in the appropriations conference.

While the FY26 budget request is silent on Tranche 3, SDA did award Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) $55 million for Tranche 3’s program integration (T3PI) effort on April 22. This award was made using an initial obligation of $6 million of FY25 RDT&E funding. The contract provides for system engineering and integration support to enable the delivery of tranche 3 space vehicles for transport, custody, and tracking layers to be integrated with the ground segment of the PWSA.

As we mentioned last year, PWSA is not a program in and of itself and has no budget line just as Golden Dome is not a program in and of itself and has no specific budget line. The tranche approach was an innovative SDA attempt to shift risk from the government by leveraging industry know-how to help solve incredibly complex issues associated with integrating multiple space layers, ground segments, and existing operational users. Zero funding the tranche 3 transport layer sends a mixed message to both industry and the warfighter at a time when the other tranches are showing signs of success. Both SDA’s actions and the Senate’s funding for this effort suggest that the Administration’s initial FY26 plans have been overtaken by events. It should be noted the administration did not mention the additional funding in its October 9th Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on the SASC FY26 NDAA.