A small supplier base for radiation-hardened processors and FPGAs creates cascading delays in missile tracking satellite production—and the Space Development Agency’s $3.5 billion Tranche 3 will test whether supply chains have truly matured.
In late 2022, procurement lead times for radiation-hardened processors stretched to 18 months, a timeline longer than some commercial satellite operators take to design, build, and launch an entire spacecraft. While SpaceX and OneWeb placed orders for thousands of satellites using commercial-grade electronics with delivery measured in weeks, defense contractors queued for specialized chips capable of surviving the harsh radiation environment of space. The divergence highlighted an uncomfortable reality, the Pentagon’s most advanced missile tracking satellites depend on microelectronics that only a handful of companies worldwide can manufacture, and those companies face persistent capacity constraints.
The stakes escalated in December 2025 when the Space Development Agency awarded $3.5 billion in contracts to build 72 tracking layer satellites for Tranche 3 of its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, with launches targeted for fiscal year 2029. These satellites will form the backbone of U.S. hypersonic and ballistic missile defense, using infrared sensors to track threats that legacy systems struggle to detect. But the ambitious timeline depends on resolving the same microelectronics bottleneck that has already delayed earlier tranches by nearly a year. Lockheed Martin declared in its award announcement that a “maturing supply chain” now enables rapid production, a claim that will be tested as 72 satellites move from contract signature to launch pad over the next three years.
Advanced microelectronics create a critical chokepoint in U.S. missile tracking satellite production, where a small supplier base for radiation-hardened processors and signal processing chips generates cascading program delays and strategic vulnerability. This article examines which chips matter, who supplies them, what delays they have caused, and how industry and government respond.
The Tracking Layer Mission
The Space Development Agency’s proliferated low Earth orbit architecture represents a fundamental shift in U.S. missile defense strategy. Rather than relying on a few large, expensive satellites in geosynchronous orbit, the model used by the legacy Space-Based Infrared System, SDA is deploying hundreds of smaller satellites in LEO that provide persistent coverage through sheer numbers. The tracking layer uses infrared sensors to detect and track hypersonic glide vehicles, ballistic missiles, and other threats, feeding data to the transport layer for relay to ground stations and combatant commanders.
Tranche 0 placed 28 satellites on orbit as a technology demonstration. Tranche 1, with 158 satellites including 28 in the tracking layer, represents the first operational capability with regional Earth coverage. Tranche 2 contracts have been awarded, and the December 2025 Tranche 3 announcement, splitting 72 tracking satellites among L3Harris Technologies (16), Lockheed Martin (16), and Northrop Grumman (40)—signals continued expansion. The strategy calls for refreshing tranches every two years, keeping ahead of both technological obsolescence and adversary countermeasures.
The proliferated approach promises resilience: losing a few satellites to kinetic attack or on-orbit failures does not cripple the constellation. But it also demands production scale that challenges traditional defense aerospace manufacturing. SDA’s original spiral development timeline called for Tranche 1 launches beginning in September 2024. Reality proved more stubborn, the launch campaign slipped to spring 2025, then to late summer 2025, driven by what SDA candidly described as “late supplier deliveries” and “supply chain bottlenecks”. The gap between commercial satellite production speed and defense satellite reality became impossible to ignore.
