Space Development Agency Satellite Network Gets Name Change

The Space Development Agency renamed its network of military satellites—formerly known as the National Defense Space Architecture—to the “Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture,” or PWSA.

Effective immediately, the PWSA’s new name is intended to “more specifically reflect the agency’s mission to deliver needed space-based capabilities to the joint warfighter to support terrestrial missions through development, fielding and operation of a proliferated low Earth orbit (pLEO) constellation of satellites,” according to an SDA statement.

The renaming follows the Space Development Agency’s October 2022 realignment under the U.S. Space Force. The agency was launched in March 2019 under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

“Now integral members of the U.S. Space Force, SDA continues the integration of its space acquisition and operations into the overall national defense hybrid space enterprise, including pLEO advancements to support no-fail missions such as end-to-end missile warning, missile tracking and missile defense,” the statement said. “Maintaining technological and military advantages in space for the warfighter requires developing a resilient hybrid architecture through an integrated diversification of orbits and proliferation of satellites.”

Amid the name change, the PWSA’s mission—acting as a “disruptor” for space acquisition—will not change.