EXCLUSIVE: Derek Tournear reinstated as Space Development Agency director
Tournear was placed on administrative leave from his role on Jan. 16.
Tournear was placed on administrative leave from his role on Jan. 16.
The court filings do not provide a proposed schedule for the new bid process, but do reveal that it will be managed by officials who were not involved in overseeing the original contract awards.
SDA Director Derek Tournear said he expects the new FOO Fighter ground segment to be up and running in December 2026, before the first satellites are launched.
While the Space Development Agency initially intended to make awards to more than one vendor, the agency determined that a sole-source contract with the Boeing-owned firm was "best value."
“We need a budget to be able to continue to fund this,” said Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear. “We always assume there will be a continuing resolution for a few months, but not six to 12.”
"The key word here is persistence," study author Masao Dahlgren told Breaking Defense. "How do we get persistence over the regions we care about? That hasn't been as explicitly put into prior work until now. This report puts into sharp relief."
SDA Director Derek Tournear also shed some more light on the agency's new, highly secretive FOO Fighter program to develop new fire control quality tracking satellites.