Millennium Space Systems Secures $414M SDA Contract to Supply Eight Missile Defense Satellites

The Space Development Agency has tapped ‍Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing company based in El Segundo, California, to build eight satellites for integration into the Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter program of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a mesh satellite communications network. 

Millennium’s satellite constellation will contribute sensors to the FOO Fighter program, which will complement missile tracking and missile defense capabilities already underway in other PWSA tranches, according to Derek Tournear, SDA director.

The agency is looking forward to have Millennium as “a new teammate” in the growing community working to deliver warfighter access to the PWSA, added Tournear, a past Wash100 awardee and Potomac Officers Club event speaker.

The Millennium satellites’ launch, scheduled in the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, aims at a rapid fire-control capability for global detection, warning and precise tracking of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missiles. The task order, which has a potential value of about $414 million, was awarded under an other transaction authority contract, the SDA said Tuesday.

The first 10 satellites for the PWSA’s Tranche 0 Transport and Tracking Layer were launched in April 2023 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The SDA expects to complete the launch of the network’s Tranche 1 demonstration satellites in 2024.