SDA Awards $1.7 Billion in Golden Dome Satellite Contracts

The Space Development Agency awarded two major contracts to support the Golden Dome for America initiative, a missile defense plan established by President Donald Trump. Sierra Space received a $798 million firm fixed price agreement to deliver 18 satellites for the Accelerated Missile Defense Tranche 3 (AMDT3) tracking layer. These satellites, based on the Horizon spacecraft from the Eclipse Satellite Family, will be produced at the company's Victory Works manufacturing plant in Louisville, Colorado.

Simultaneously, the agency awarded L3Harris Technologies a $955 million contract to produce another 18 satellites designed to detect and track advanced missile threats. This brings the total number of missile-tracking satellites ordered from L3Harris to at least 70. The SDA split the AMDT3 phase between these two companies to diversify contractors and accelerate the deployment of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The broader Tranche 3 constellation will consist of 104 satellites in low Earth orbit, with additional contributions from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. For Sierra Space, this award follows a previously completed $740 million contract for the Tranche 2 phase. The initiative aims to provide critical missile warning and tracking capabilities for national security, specifically targeting hypersonic missiles and next-generation threats.