SDA director Sandhoo takes on broader Space Force missile warning portfolio

WASHINGTON — The acting director of the Space Development Agency, Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo, has been appointed to a dual role overseeing both the agency and a new U.S. Space Force acquisition office responsible for missile-warning satellite procurements.

In the new assignment, Sandhoo will serve as director of SDA and as Portfolio Acquisition Executive, or PAE, for missile warning and tracking, SDA said.

The appointment formalizes a broader restructuring underway inside the Space Force as it reorganizes procurement programs around mission portfolios rather than individual satellite systems. A PAE oversees acquisition decisions, budgets and program integration for an entire mission area.

Sandhoo has led SDA as acting director since September 2025. His selection as missile-warning PAE had been reported previously by SpaceNews and other industry publications but was formally announced May 19.

Under the arrangement, Sandhoo will continue overseeing Tranches 1 and 2 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, or PWSA, that remain under SDA management. At the same time, in his role as missile-warning PAE, he will oversee future tranches of the missile-warning portion of the architecture as those programs transition into the Space Force’s new acquisition structure.

The Transport Layer portion of PWSA — a constellation of communications satellites designed to relay military data through optical intersatellite links — will not continue into Tranche 3. The Pentagon is folding that transport mission into a larger initiative known as the Space Data Network, assigned to another PAE overseeing broader space sensing and targeting. 

“Our guiding principle is to provide every PAE with the things they need to succeed including the authority, the resources, and the talent to execute their mission,” Thomas Ainsworth, the Space Force’s top acquisition official, said in a statement. He said the restructuring reflects an effort to align accountability with operational missions, including global missile warning and tracking.

The agency also named Michael Eppolito deputy director of SDA.

The leadership changes come as the future of SDA as a standalone organization remains under review. Brig. Gen. Christopher Fernengel, the Space Force’s director of plans and programs, said last week at a Mitchell Institute event that SDA “will be folded into the missile warning and tracking PAE … and more to follow on how that organization evolves over time.”

SDA was established in 2019 to accelerate military space acquisitions by relying on fixed-price contracts, commercial technology and rapid procurement cycles known as tranches. The agency was intended to break from the Pentagon’s traditional acquisition system by fielding large constellations of lower-cost satellites in low Earth orbit on shorter timelines.

That approach, initially viewed inside the Pentagon as an experiment, is being adopted across the Space Force as proliferated constellations become more central to missile warning, communications and data transport missions.