{"id":37107,"date":"2020-01-21T18:48:52","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T18:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/21\/space-development-agency-on-track-to-become-part-of-space-force-in-2022-director-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:00:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:00:59","slug":"space-development-agency-on-track-to-become-part-of-space-force-in-2022-director-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2020\/01\/21\/space-development-agency-on-track-to-become-part-of-space-force-in-2022-director-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Development Agency on track to become part of Space Force in 2022, director says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. government\u2019s Space Development Agency will officially become part of the Space Force in October 2022, its director told reporters <\/a>Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That timeline is a major test for the fledgling organization, which was created last year and plans to launch its first satellites mere months before the Space Force takes it under its wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[October 2022] is still the timeline we are working under,\u201d SDA Director Derek Tournear said about the merge with Space Force during a Jan. 21 roundtable. \u201cThat works for a lot a of different [reasons] … primarily that will allow us to have [satellites] up and operational, to be able to demonstrate the capabilities of a proliferated system and how that fits in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When SDA launched last March<\/a>, it was tasked with creating a proliferated architecture of hundreds or potentially thousands of small satellites that would be organized in different \u201clayers\u201d specializing in operations ranging from deep space situational awareness to providing an alternative to GPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization plans to launch its first several dozen or so satellites \u2014 what Tournear calls \u201ctranche zero\u201d\u2014 by the end of fiscal 2022, which ends Sept. 30, 2022. Those satellites will offer additional communications connectivity and targeting information to terrestrial assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By that point, how the defense enterprise procures space assets will look markedly different, with a single assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration in charge of overseeing all space acquisition organizations, to include the Space Rapid Capabilities Office and the Space and Missile Systems Center, which are both led by the Air Force, as well as the SDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SDA, which is currently housed under the Office of the Secretary of Defense, hasn\u2019t always been popular with Pentagon officials. Then-Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson publicly deriding the organization at the time it was established. While opposition to the SDA quieted down after her departure, analysts have raised questions about the organization\u2019s longevity and whether it will survive once subsumed by Space Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\t