The Space Development Agency and its industry partners are closer to creating interoperable laser communications networks on orbit, experts said recently.

The agency, which became part of the Space Force in 2022, has faced criticism for pushing forward with laser communications technology prematurely, but its rapid advancement has largely been a success, experts said during a panel at the Air and Space Forces Association’s recent Air, Space and Cyber Conference.

“The technology has moved faster in the past five years than I ever thought it would,” said Art Dhallin, director of military and strategic communications at Lockheed Martin. “That has largely been due to the demand signal the industry’s seen from SDA and in response taking a ‘go fast’ approach to your typical technology maturation. It has been, from my perspective, a success.”

Laser communications — also known as optical communications — use a narrow beam of infrared light to transmit data, sending information faster with greater precision and a lower risk of jamming than traditional radio waves. Space-based versions of the technology hold promise for defense missions, enabling warfighters to quickly and securely transfer data between satellites, ground stations and aircraft.

The Government Accountability Office reported in February that the Space Development Agency is issuing billions of dollars in laser communications-related contracts for its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture program despite not having demonstrated operational network links in space. GAO recommended the agency fully demonstrate the technology’s capabilities before sinking more money into the effort.

Nevertheless, the agency sent the first batch of 21 operational spacecraft that will form part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture’s Tranche 1 to orbit, with launches to continue into mid-2026. Eventually, the Tranche 1 constellation will consist of 154 operational satellites, with initial warfighting capability scheduled for 2027, according to an SDA fact sheet.

Nathan Getz, director of the agency’s data communications cell, said that with the first batch of Tranche 1 satellites, “I would expect that, initially, you’re going to have some challenges when you’re trying to integrate lots of different vendors and their optical terminals. But we’re working through those, and it’s picking up speed and we’re gaining momentum.”

The agency established technical standards for optical communications terminals in 2020 in preparation for Tranche 0 — the constellation of demonstration satellites that preceded Tranche 1.

Those interoperability-focused specifications have continued to evolve, enabling the agency to conduct “many demonstrations now between different types of vendors — space to space, space to ground, space to air,” Getz said.

Similarly, the Enterprise Space Terminal program spearheaded by the Space Force’s Space Systems Command is creating a “standardized, enterprise-wide optical communications terminal” to compel congruency between future systems, said Jennifer Reeves, senior resident fellow for space studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Having standardization is “a huge win,” since it gives industry clear parameters for innovation, said Trevor Haak, director of electromagnetic systems at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. The Space Development Agency has been “laser focused” on “making sure that the network that they were trying to establish from a transport perspective actually worked from a crosslink perspective,” he added.

The agency “got some unfair criticism early on” when “they were trying to push the state-of-the-art with optical comms terminals based upon what they knew at the time from a market perspective,” Haak said, referencing the Government Accountability Office report.

There are still challenges for laser communications such as scaling, which Dhallin said industry and government are working on.

Environmental conditions can also easily distort the links when they are used terrestrially.

Haak said there are “multiple types of lasers to support whatever the mission needs are, including accounting for the environmental aspects.”

Hurdles aside, the panel expressed optimism that space-based laser communications technology is ready for action.

“It will get better,” Dhallin said, “but we’ve been talking about laser comms for at least 10 years that I’m aware of, and I think we’re finally at that point now where we’re going to see it deployed operationally and it’s really going to come into effect.”

“It’s here. It’s coming. Get ready,” Haak said. “Now, let’s find out how we can actually implement this on the various different platforms, not just doing one-off tests, doing the near[by] satellite links. This is coming to airborne. This is coming to naval. This is coming to whatever domain that we need to operate from.” Source: National Defense, 12 November 2025… by Tabitha Reeves