The Space Development Agency (SDA) has renamed its proliferated LEO constellation as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, or PWSA. Logo: SDA

A question mark for the U.S. Space Force Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) has been whether one company’s satellites would link with other companies’ birds, but Denver’s York Space Systems said on Thursday that it has demonstrated “the first Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) inter-vendor laser communication link” for the PWSA.

“This groundbreaking achievement connected a Tranche 0 Transport satellite built by York with a Tranche 0 Tracking satellite built by SpaceX, representing a significant milestone in space-based communication,” York said in a statement.

Top Trump adviser and co-chair of the soon to be Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk is the billionaire founder and CEO of SpaceX.

“This demonstration realizes another important step in SDA’s achieving its vision of an extensible and proliferated constellation built by multiple vendors to a common interface standard,” York Space said on Thursday. “Successfully closing this laser communication link between vendors and across two network layers and orbital inclinations validates SDA’s decision to adopt a standardized optical communication terminal (OCT) protocol to enhance interoperability. By enabling seamless communication across platforms, this approach ensures interoperability, enhances a competitive marketplace and fosters innovation across the entire space industry.”

Like SpaceX, York’s optical terminals are supplied by Tesat on the Tranche 0 spacecraft.

SDA Director Derek Tournear has said that the risk was low that optical terminals between SpaceX and York spacecraft would not communicate, as the links must meet the interfaces and standards set by SDA. In addition, the companies have had to demonstrate their respective links on the Naval Research Laboratory’s optical and networking testbed, Tournear said in September.

This story was first published by Defense Daily