In the last issue of The Relay, we looked at the U.S. Navy’s modernization priorities (especially with regards to advanced networking and secure communications) and at the Pentagon’s testing of its Mission Network-as-a-Service concept aboard a British aircraft carrier. This time around, we’ll be discussing what’s new with satellite communications.
Space Force Halts Communications Satellite Purchases
Writing in Defense News, Courtney Albon notes that the U.S. Space Force has put on pause plans to buy some more communications satellites through the Space Development Agency (SDA) and instead stick with a mostly SpaceX constellation.
This alternative to SDA “is a largely secretive and little-known program called MILNET, a space data network that could eventually include nearly 500 satellites,” Albon writes. “SpaceX’s Starshield, a business unit that builds a military version of its Starlink spacecraft, is on contract for the effort…”
The rival SDA satellites, meanwhile, are built by multiple contractors, with an open architecture in mind. This approach has strong supporters in the U.S. Senate who worry that if Space Force goes the SpaceX-MILNET route, it’ll be chained to a single company.
Modernizing Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3)
The U.S. Space Force also recently announced in a press release that its Space Systems Command awarded a $2.8 billion contract to Boeing “to build and deliver the first two satellites of the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications (SATCOM) [ESS] program.”
The ESS program, which builds upon an earlier Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) Rapid Prototyping acquisition effort, aims to modernize the service’s Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) capability for joint nuclear warfighters across the world.
In addition to the first two satellites, there are options for the delivery of two more. These “will support Initial Operational Capability and is the first step in a phased approach to rapidly proliferate a diverse satellite constellation,” the Space Force press release notes.
Thoughts from Persistent Systems
What has been exciting lately about all of the news coming out about military changes is the emphasis being placed on communications and data. To command the modern battlefield, troops on the ground or in the air need to have access to all the data being passed around the battlefield.
With the Space Force’s requested pause, not only are they seeking a more technology-agnostic battlefield, but the focus is on communications and helping troops on the ground stay connected. If a new conflict were to break out, space communications would be degraded and denied via RF, so troops would need to depend on their earth-based networks to deliver data.
The next feasible step is to make the ground networks resilient and mobile with more downlink locations. We cannot have earth-based networks with a single point of failure, so fiber and server networks will need to be resilient, and access must be movable. This would require multiple vendors working together to deliver this solution. I expect that the Space Force will likely opt for a multi-vendor government space network.
The increased nuclear threats from the Indo-Pacific region are why we are seeing a $2.8B contract for NC3. With more nuclear sites in various locations, troops will need 24/7 global access via mobile terrestrial networks to deliver “peace through strength through deterrence.” Thus, we can expect to see an increased focus on nuclear energy in the next few years.
I think the choice to consider more commercial providers is reflective of the current thinking that we need technology that can respond to now. The ongoing push to eliminate one-size-fits-all solutions and legacy architectures is just part of the military renaissance that the U.S. is undergoing.
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Adrien Robenhymer is the Vice President of Business Capture, Air Force at Persistent Systems, LLC, a leading defense tech company providing mobile ad hoc networking solutions to the military, first responder, government, and commercial markets.
