Funding for SDA's next missile tracking contracts diverted to troop payments: Sources - Breaking Defense

""We were supposed to hear by Thanksgiving who wins," one industry representative told Breaking Defense. "When the funding will be authorized, given the shutdown and all the fun there, is a question mark." The Pentagon announced last month that it planned to pull $8 billion from "unobligated" research and development coffers in order to pay troops during the shutdown, but since then, little has been revealed about what specific programs are feeling the pinch."

"As for the the tracking satellites, according to the SDA's April solicitation, three winners are to be chosen to each provide 18 satellites (54 total) for the Tranche 3 Tracking Layer constellation - part of a larger planned network of hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) to track not just ballistic but also hypersonic cruise missiles. Tranche 3 would expand on the capabilities being provided by earlier design iterations under Tranche 1 and Tranche 2, and provide global surveillance of missile launches using infrared sensors."

Pentagon fiscal 2025 budget clawbacks to pay troops during the government shutdown have delayed Space Development Agency awards for Tranche 3 missile-tracking satellites. Three winners were to each provide 18 satellites (54 total) for a Tranche 3 Tracking Layer using infrared sensors to monitor ballistic and hypersonic cruise missiles from low Earth orbit as part of a larger multi-tranche constellation. Planned awards were $237 million using FY25 funds in October and $536 million using FY26 funds in December. The SDA reportedly lost about $700 million to the clawback. Defense Department and SDA spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.

Read at Breaking Defense