Breaking Defense

WASHINGTON — Space Development Agency (SDA) Director Derek Tournear announced today that the agency has successfully demonstrated the ability of its optical communications terminals to link satellites together — a capability that he has acknowledged as the longest pole in the tent for its planned mesh network of data transport and missile warning/tracking satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).

“To date,” he told the annual Defense News conference, “we had not demonstrated laser communication, to be able to do that and form that network — that’s what I was prepared to come in here and say. But last night, we actually demonstrated it.”

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