Tech7 Awarded Direct to Phase II SBIR to Build the Proliferated LEO Agile Testbed Environment (PLATE) for Space Development Agency (SDA)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tech7 Company, a rapidly growing innovator in the US defense and national security sector, is proud to announce the award of a Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, facilitated by SpaceWERX, to develop the Proliferated LEO Agile Testbed Environment (PLATE). Work under the award is scheduled to begin this month.

The United States Space Force's evolution toward proliferated Low Earth Orbit (pLEO) constellations is driving an unprecedented increase in the volume, velocity, and variety of space-derived data. In the future, hundreds of distributed sensors will generate continuous, low-latency data streams that must be processed and acted upon in near real time — a paradigm that today's stove-piped, mission-specific data pipelines were never designed to support. PLATE directly addresses that gap.

Under this award, Tech7 will prototype an AWS-based Space Development Agency (SDA) testbed at the unclassified level that can mature, test, and demonstrate applications for use within one or more SDA tranches, with a clear transition path to an objective multi-security-level system in a future SBIR Phase III. When complete, PLATE will support SDA's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).

"This Direct to Phase II award reflects the confidence our government customers have in Tech7's ability to move quickly from concept to fielded capability," said Juan Echeverry, President and CEO of Tech7. "PLATE gives the Space Force a place to safely try new ideas at the speed the pLEO mission demands. PLATE will build  an environment where the best technology — from large primes, small businesses, and non-traditional innovators alike — can be evaluated on its merits and transitioned to operations without introducing operational risk."

Tech7's approach builds on the company's existing on-site support to the SSC Missile Warning enterprise, including the OPIR Tools, Applications and Processing (TAP) Lab and SSC OPIR Modeling and Simulation Analysis Center (OMAC), allowing the team to leverage mature, high-TRL applications rather than starting from scratch.

"The hard problem in proliferated LEO is not collecting data — it is processing it, fusing it, trusting it, and acting on it fast enough to matter," said Paul Zetocha, Tech7 Principal Investigator and Chief Engineer. "PLATE is designed from the ground up to be modular, zero-trust, and continuously scalable, with a deliberate path to multi-level security and coalition operations. It will enable the early evaluation and testing of technologies in order to bring optimal capabilities to orbit as quickly as possible. "

As Tech7 begins execution on PLATE, the company remains dedicated to its mission of delivering innovative solutions that empower government agencies to achieve their objectives, while maintaining its industry-leading company culture. This award marks another significant milestone in Tech7's journey and reinforces its position as a rapidly growing leader in the defense and national security community.

About SpaceWERX

SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force and a division of AFWERX, partners with startups, small businesses and nontraditional vendors to accelerate commercial space technologies for Guardians. Headquartered in Los Angeles, SpaceWERX connects industry innovation with defense needs to deliver capabilities faster. In partnership with Space Systems Command's Commercial Space Office, SpaceWERX bridges innovation and acquisition to accelerate capability adoption. In fiscal year 2025, SpaceWERX awarded more than 300 contracts totaling $510 million. For more information, visit spacewerx.us.

The views expressed in this release are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of War, or the U.S. government. For more information about Tech7, please visit www.tech7.us.

Contact:
PR Contact:
David Hutchison
The Tech7 Company
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE The Tech7 Company