The U.S. Space Force (USSF) said that it did not include more than $42 million in its fiscal 2025 budget request for the missile warning portion of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche Demonstration and Experimentation System (TxDES) because of the president’s budget request (PBR)-“directed reduction of 33 percent for experimentation and demonstration of SDA-developed joint warfighter capability in FY25.”
The Space Force’s $1.15 billion fiscal 2025 “unfunded priorities list” (UPL) includes $786 million for six classified programs–the largest is $335.3 million–and some unclassified projects, including $42.5 million for SDA’s Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) missile warning track.
UPLs are to be provided to Congress under Title 10 direction within 10 days of the PBR’s submission to Congress.
If Congress provides the SDA missile warning track funding, the latter would prevent a delay in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) “experimentation and demonstration supporting rapid spiral development of critical joint warfighter capabilities,” the Space Force UPL said.
“In alignment with the NSS [National Security Strategy], which emphasizes the need to maintain technological superiority and strategic resilience, full funding for the Tranche Demonstration and Experiment System (TxDES) is paramount,” the document said. “TxDES’s role in advancing joint warfighter capabilities in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is crucial for ensuring that our defense systems remain robust and adaptive to emerging threats in the space domain. Fielding MW/MT [missile warning/missile tracking] capabilities allows the USSF to further achieve NMS [National Military Strategy] objectives and deter strategic attacks against the U.S., allies, and partners.”
The National Security Council annually writes an NSS, signed by the president, while the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs approves an NMS to fulfill the overarching goals of the NSS. Title 10 also requires DoD’s release of a National Defense Strategy every four years.
In October 2022, SDA said that it had awarded a firm-fixed price Other Transaction Authority prototype contract with a ceiling of about $200 million to Denver’s York Space Systems for 12 Tranche 1 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T1DES) satellites to demonstrate tactical satellite communications and Integrated Broadcast Service (IBS) from LEO through 2031 (Defense Daily, Oct. 6, 2022)
The T1DES satellites and 28 Tranche 1 Tracking Layer satellites are to launch in fiscal 2025. the Tranche 2 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T2DES) satellites are to launch in fiscal 2027.