The United States Space Development Agency (SDA) has finally approved a $700 million contract for L3Harris to produce 16 hypersonic missile tracking satellites.
L3Harris won the contract in 2022 but has only now received the "green light" to begin production of 16 satellites ready for 2025. Once built, the new satellites will detect, monitor, and track hypersonic missiles aimed at the U.S. and its allies.
The approval comes after a critical design review (CDR) and a production readiness review (PRR). "The CDR milestone demonstrates that L3Harris' design will meet the mission requirements, while the PRR provides L3Harris with the SDA's approval to begin the full production process. These major milestones move the program closer to achieving the SDA's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) – a resilient, layered network of military satellites in low-Earth orbit," explained L3Harris in its public announcement.
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