CLASSIFIED

PRAETORIAN SDA_612

US Military Mesh Communications (PWSA Transport Layer) · York Space Systems / US Space Development Agency

PRAETORIAN SDA-611, one of York Space Systems' Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites for the US Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture — the Pentagon's answer to a fundamental problem: how do you build military space infrastructure that isn't an easy, high-value target? Rather than a handful of expensive satellites, the SDA is deploying over 150 nearly identical, mass-produced Transport Layer spacecraft in low Earth orbit, connected via optical laser inter-satellite links into a resilient global mesh network. This satellite contributes part of a constellation that, per a 2025 GAO report, faced real development delays and had not yet fully proven its laser communication capability at initial deployment.