L3Harris Advances Tranche 2 Missile Warning Satellites Production

Space Defence L3Harris Moves Tranche 2 Missile Warning Satellites into Production

2025-08-05 Source: Press release 1 min Reading Time

L3Harris and the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) have reached a critical milestone in their Tranche 2 Tracking Layer program, advancing from the design phase to production. The program supports the deployment of a layered space-based missile defense architecture in low Earth orbit.

L3Harris is building 18 space vehicles for SDA’s Tranche 2 Tracking Layer program, designed to provide near-global missile warning and tracking against hypersonic threats.(Bild: L3Harris) — L3Harris is building 18 space vehicles for SDA’s Tranche 2 Tracking Layer program, designed to provide near-global missile warning and tracking against hypersonic threats.
(Bild: L3Harris)

On August 4, 2025, L3Harris announced the successful completion of both the Critical Design Review and Production Readiness Review for the SDA’s Tranche 2 Tracking Layer. These reviews confirmed that the company’s space vehicle and ground system designs meet mission requirements and are ready for full-scale manufacturing.

Designed to detect and track advanced missile threats worldwide in real time, the Tranche 2 satellites build on L3Harris’ earlier work for Tranche 0 and Tranche 1 of the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), as well as the Missile Defense Agency’s Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) program.

L3Harris has already begun producing major components for the Tranche 2 space vehicles at its facilities across Indiana, Florida and Massachusetts, supported by a $250 million investment in manufacturing infrastructure. The company’s technology portfolio includes space sensors, EO/IR payloads, precision fire-control, and propulsion systems for interceptors.

In addition to its Tranche 2 work, L3Harris is also delivering eight EO/IR payloads for the SDA’s fire-control program known as "FOO Fighter."L3Harris is one of the main industry players supporting SDA’s ambition to deploy a scalable, proliferated satellite network capable of tracking hypersonic and ballistic threats with low latency and global coverage.

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Date: 08.12.2025

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