The Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) funded the standardized spacecraft bus and the Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS) funded the launch that will be performed by the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC).

[1][2][3][4] TacSat-4 is equipped with a 3.6 m (12 ft) antenna operating 10 Ultra High Frequency (UHF) channels that can be used for any combination of communications, data ex-filtration or Blue Force Tracking (BFT).

Command and control of TacSat-4 will be performed at the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Satellite Operations Center at Blossom Point, Maryland.

All TacSat satellites are designed to demonstrate the ability to provide real-time data collected from space to combatant commanders in the field.

[5] The spacecraft bus was built by NRL and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to mature ORS bus standards developed by an Integrated (government and industry) System Engineering Team, the "ISET Team", with active representation from AeroAstro, Air Force Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, ATK Space, Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Boeing, Design Net Engineering, General Dynamics AIS, Microcosm, Sierra Nevada Corp., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory, Orbital Sciences Corporation, NRL, SMC, Space Systems/Loral, and Raytheon.