Col. Rich Kniseley, director of the Commercial Space Office (COMSO), told reporters Thursday that the service will stand up CASR pilots across three mission areas in 2025. One program will focus on small launch and is anticipated to kick off before the end of fiscal 2025, while the other two — satellite communications, and tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking — are expected to be ready by December, Kniseley said.

The program’s growth comes just two years after the Space Force first conceived it as its own version of the Air Force’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet. Under CASR, the service can contract space-based services from commercial vendors during peacetime, which could then be used to augment and support military operations in the event of crisis or conflict.

In March, the Space Force launched CASR’s pilot phase when it awarded contracts to four commercial vendors to provide space domain awareness capabilities. The agreements cover an initial three-month period of performance and include peacetime and pre-priced surge capabilities, as well as the ability to conduct wargames with vendors, Kniseley said.

“What that allowed us to do is to start exercising some of the processes while we are still working in the background with some of the more challenging aspects of CASR, whether that’s prioritizing capabilities for US government use [or] denial of service,” he said during a media roundtable at the annual Space Symposium.

For the small launch pilot, the office will look to commercial launch providers already part of the Space Force’s Orbital Services Program-4 (OSP-4) program, which focuses on fast-turnaround launches of small payloads, Kniseley said. COMSO is partnering with Space Systems Command’s Assured Access to Space (AATS) directorate and the Space Safari program office for the pilot.

“It’s formulating a framework around launch, but small launch specifically,” Kniseley said. “Think of a call-up at a given point and some of the ongoing pieces. It will be a tabletop exercise more than anything, instead of an operational call.”

The pilot will align closely with the Space Force’s ongoing Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) initiative that aims to improve the service’s ability to respond to new threats on-orbit, such as by reducing time taken to launch payloads or prepositioning assets in space, Kniseley said.

He added that while the small-launch effort isn’t quite ready to serve as a mechanism for TacRS, the program’s managers are learning from COMSO’s pilot — including supply chain management and how it’s building the contracts to “surge and scale.”

Similarly, COMSO is looking to leverage the pool of vendors under the Space Force’s larger Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking (TacSRT) program for its upcoming surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking pilot, Kniseley said.

Broadly, the service’s TacSRT effort allows combatant commanders to quickly and directly purchase unclassified data from imagery and sensors collected by commercial satellites — but COMSO’s pilot will be framed through the CASR concept.

“What if we were to put a company on to provide X number of products during peacetime? If I want to scale that up, and as things go on and I’m going to be getting more and more requirements from the combatant commands — that’s the type of model and framework I’m seeing for that,” he said.

And while Kniseley didn’t provide specifics for the service’s SATCOM pilot plans, he said the mission area was the focus for the office’s first CASR wargame completed recently. The event was critical, as it gave COMSO a slew of action items and topics it needs to work on with commercial vendors as it builds out the program.

During the wargame, Kniseley exercised a forceful activation of CASR — representing a real-life scenario in which industry would be required to turn off capabilities to other customers to fully support U.S. military operations. The event allowed companies to coordinate together, while also giving them the opportunity to think about how they would work with their investors and other customers.

“I viewed that as a complete success because it wasn’t 100% successful,” Kniseley noted. “What I wanted to do was have nothing but commercial capability or vendors in there, and I wanted to start exercising the framework for CASR. I really wanted to key in on some of the aspects that we have questions on, and to have that dialog back and forth.”

As COMSO prepares to launch the three new pilot programs, the office is also conducting a study with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the legal community on financial protection options for CASR vendors, Kniseley said. The results of the study should be released in the next few months to provide guidance on how the office plans to proceed, he added.

Overall, Kniseley said his office’s efforts to integrate commercial capabilities on a larger scale have garnered positive support from Congress. Before receiving $40 million in funds from the yearlong continuing resolution passed in March, lawmakers added $50 million to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for commercial space services, which was critical to getting COMSO initiatives like CASR off the ground.

He also pointed to President Donald Trump’s recent executive order calling for prioritization of commercial capabilities within the Defense Department as validation for COMSO’s work.

“[When] I look at the executive order, I look at it more as an exclamation point on a lot of the things that we’re doing,” he said. “But it will require additional budget. It will also require additional resources, and that usually means people, as well.”

The post Space Force plans to kick off 3 additional commercial reserve fleet ‘pilots’ in 2025 appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The two satellites were stationed in low-Earth orbit as part of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 — a batch of experimental systems launched in 2023 that serve to test and validate SDA’s future mega-constellation known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The on-orbit demonstration involved a data transport satellite built by York and a SpaceX missile tracking platform on two separate network layers and orbital inclinations that were able to successfully close a laser comms link, according York.

“Achieving the first inter-vendor, inter-layer laser link demonstrates the tangible value of open standards and collaborative efforts in rapidly achieving an integrated space architecture,” York CEO Dirk Wallinger said in a statement. “We are proud to support SDA’s vision for an interconnected space architecture for the warfighters.”

SDA envisions the PWSA as a constellation comprising hundreds of satellites built by multiple vendors that carry critical communications, data relay, missile warning and tracking capabilities for the Defense Department.

To ensure platforms built by different vendors can pass data with each other, each of the PWSA birds carry optical inter-satellite links that meet a standardized protocol published by and required the agency. 

“Laser communication links, which enable high-speed, secure data transmission, are an enabling capability for next-generation satellite networks,” York stated in a press release. “By successfully demonstrating the first LEO-to-LEO laser communication link between satellites from different vendors, York and SDA have taken a significant step toward realizing the vision of a unified, multi-vendor satellite communications network.”

The demonstration marks another critical milestone for SDA as it prepares to launch the first operational batch of PWSA satellites, known as Tranche 1, in the coming months.

SDA Director Derek Tournear has said in the past that space-based laser communications will be a significant technical hurdle to overcome as the agency validates the PWSA concept. In September 2024, Tournear said that two Tranche 0 missile warning and missile tracking satellites built by SpaceX established laser link comms — paving the way for inter-vendor networking demonstrations.

At the same time, SDA is also planning to have the PWSA connect with other military constellations and, eventually, commercial satellites. The agency wants to use “translator satellites” that can connect its Tracking Layer space vehicles to the Space Force’s future missile warning and tracking constellation stationed in medium-Earth orbit. Additionally, SDA wants to use “hybrid” communications terminals built by commercial vendors that can connect their constellations to the PWSA.

The post SDA demos laser link between 2 vendors for future SATCOM, missile tracking network appeared first on DefenseScoop.

“The place where I think we should be moving faster is counterspace. We need to protect the joint force from the targeting and sensing that China, in particular, is fielding now,” Kendall said Thursday during a webinar hosted by the Mitchell Institute. “And we need more effective and efficient ways of sending a single interceptor against a single satellite.”

Counterspace weapons are capabilities able to disable, destroy or disrupt space capabilities through physical, electronic or cyber means. Although the U.S. has kept details about the types of counterspace weapons it has in development or deployed behind closed doors, the Defense Department has routinely sounded alarms over adversary capabilities — such as China’s work on anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons.

Kendall acknowledged that the Department of the Air Force has done significant work to identify ways to address the problems posed by enemy counterspace capabilities but warned that much more needs to be done.

In its budget request for fiscal 2025, the Space Force allocated $37.4 million in research-and-development funds towards at least two counterspace systems. The first is the offensive Counter Communications System, a mobile electronic warfare device able to block adversary satcom signals. The second is the defensive Bounty Hunter system, which will geolocate satellite communications and detect electromagnetic interference on radio frequencies from allies and adversaries.

As Kendall prepares to depart from his role as secretary of the Air Force, he said there has been “very good progress” made in the last four years in initiating development and fielding for other space-based capabilities.

“We’ve largely moved to more resilient architectures, distributed communications [and] distributed missile warning,” he said. “We’re looking at sensing, we’re looking at [ground-moving target indication] capability moving there.”

With a new administration and leadership coming to the Pentagon when President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, Kendall emphasized the importance of prioritizing development of key space capabilities — including satellite communications, sensing, targeting and missile warning.

“Increasingly, we’re moving capabilities into space,” Kendall said. “The joint force is going to be very dependent upon space, and I think, quite frankly, the Space Force and space capabilities are going to be decisive in a future conflict, particularly with a peer competitor.”

The post Kendall: Space Force must move faster to field counterspace capabilities appeared first on DefenseScoop.

Built by Northrop Grumman and launched by SpaceX in August, the two-satellite constellation includes two Enhanced Polar System — Recapitalization (EPS-R) payloads and others for Space Norway, a state-owned firm that develops and manages space-based services for government and commercial use. The satellites are intended to operate in a highly elliptical orbit to provide satcom capabilities for both commercial and military applications in the Arctic region.

The EPS-R payloads hosted on ASBM are expected to add to the capacity of Enhanced Polar System (EPS) payloads currently on orbit, extending the Pentagon’s satcom capability in the Arctic region until the U.S. Space Force’s Protected Tactical SATCOM (PTS) system is fielded in the early 2030s, according to the Defense Department.

In addition, Northrop Grumman upgraded its ground system that’s used to operate the older EPS satellites with a common baseline software. The upgrades allow for both EPS and EPS-R on the same architecture, “eliminating the need for training on two separate control systems,” a company press release stated.

The ASBM constellation includes systems for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and Viasat that will boost X-band and Ka-band connectivity in the Arctic, and others for the Norwegian Radiation Monitor to provide data on highly elliptical orbits, according to the contractor.

“Thanks to a bold vision from our customers — and enabled by Northrop Grumman’s end-to-end capabilities, deep mission understanding and unmatched MILSATCOM legacy — our service members and allies can now count on reliable, secure communications in this strategically important region while next-generation systems are developed,” Blake Bullock, vice president of military space systems at Northrop Grumman, said in a statement.

While the ASBM satellite contributes to the Defense Department’s effort to increase operational capacity in the Arctic, it also marked the first time a U.S. military payload was hosted on an international commercial space mission — a key step forward in the United States’ efforts to strengthen collaboration with international allies in space.

The post Northrop Grumman activates Arctic satcom constellation for Space Force, Norway appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The Army published its new space vision in January, doubling down on the importance of the service’s ability to conduct its own space ops and the need to grow its formations. The document emphasized the need for land-centric, expeditionary equipment designed for large-scale multidimensional operations for space missions.

But with an eye on executing the vision by 2030, the organization is working through challenges in meeting demands for new capabilities and more space soldiers.

“As I look at the priorities within the command as we move forward, probably our top priority is how do we deliver that capability responsive to the warfighter?” SMDC commander Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey said this week during a panel at the annual AUSA conference. “How do we continue to get after more tactical solutions that allow our soldiers to maneuver around on the battlefield at different areas, different times [with] smaller weight platforms? … How do we build the expertise within our soldiers so that we’re not borrowing manpower?”

Developing space soldiers

Over the last 25 years, the Army has maintained a functional area of 40 space operations officers, while also borrowing enlisted troops from other military occupational specialties. Given new demands to add and maintain experienced space soldiers, the service is reconsidering that resourcing model, Col. Donald Brooks, commandant of SMDC’s Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence, said.

“Given the increasing dependency on space capabilities of the Army of the future, we realize that this is not enough and it’s insufficient,” Brooks said. “So, this ‘temporary space soldier’ … has proven not able or capable to meet current and future operational demands, and negatively impacts our ability to sufficiently answer the call in today’s operational environment.”

As part of the Army’s larger ongoing force structure transformation, the service plans to grow its space warfighting formations to include nine companies and 27 platoons. Those units will be the 1st Space Brigade, additional multidomain task forces (MDTFs) and new theater-level formations called theater strike effects groups (TSEGs).

Soldiers in the new formations will focus on providing space capabilities — such as satellite communications, missile warning, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — in support of ground forces operating at the tactical edge, according to Col. Peter Atkinson, principal space advisor at SMDC.

“What we’re seeing now is our formations requiring more of those low-density, high-demand skill sets. It’s incredibly difficult to maintain because they’re highly specialized,” Atkinson said in an interview with DefenseScoop on the sidelines of AUSA. “The training timelines for those are great. And so, when you’re looking at the human resources aspects of it, that piece is challenging.”

The Army has already established three MDTFs — two in the Pacific and one in Europe — and plans to activate two more over the next few years. According to the space vision, the MDTFs will be responsible for “employing Army space interdiction forces alongside cyber operations and electronic warfare enablers,” allowing them to destroy adversary space systems.

The service has already sent a provisional TSEG unit to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to integrate into exercises and inform how SMDC will ultimately field the formation in 2027. The group was recently at Joint Warfighting Assessment 24 in Europe, during which the Army evaluated how the unit can augment the MDTF, Brooks said. 

“One of the great things with the TSEG is the counter surveillance [and] reconnaissance capabilities that are bringing navigation warfare, along with the high-altitude assets that it can bring to the fight,” he said. “And it really does build that, not only capacity, but build additional capabilities to shape and influence.”

SMDC is also “aggressively pursuing” the establishment of a military occupational specialty for non-commissioned officers specific to space careers, as well as an Army space operations branch comprising the enlisted cohort, its current functional area officers and a potential warrant officer cohort, Brooks noted. 

“We need an Army space operations career field and branch to produce and sustain the specialized, highly experienced and talented non-commissioned officer corps and officer cohort capable of integrating space across all warfighting functions and converging effects in support of maneuver operations,” he said.

Demand for new capabilities

As it grows the number of space personnel, the Army is also adding capabilities and equipment in alignment to the two new mission areas outlined in the space vision: integration with joint, coalition and commercial space capabilities, and interdiction against adversary space operations.

Atkinson told DefenseScoop it is imperative that the capability development and fielding is in line with the Army’s near-term growth plan for formations.

“Our goal is to make sure that they receive equipment as part of their activation, as part of their establishment,” he said. “So that alignment is what we’re focusing on right now, to make sure that we don’t have equipment on the shelf that could be waiting for a unit to be established, and then we don’t have units that are established without equipment.”

The service’s integration mission will include providing assured position, navigation and timing (PNT), deep sensing and reliable satellite communications, among others. While it keeps an eye on emerging technologies it can incorporate in the future, there are several prototypes for the integration mission the Army will field in the next few years, Atkinson noted.

A key challenge, however, will be scaling new space-based capabilities at relatively high volumes across the service. In many cases, the Army will require individual systems that can be fielded in the thousands — such as terminals needed for satellite communications, he added.

“The Army’s challenge with terminals is that we have too many, and it’s really hard to scale,” Atkinson said. “You’re talking about tens of thousands of individual terminals, each one unique to that satellite, that specific constellation — whether it’s military SATCOM, whether it’s commercial SATCOM.”

To mitigate delays in soldiers receiving new SATCOM capabilities, the Army is pursuing a hybrid terminal that can access multiple satellite constellations across orbital regimes. The service is hoping to leverage both military and commercial systems, Atkinson noted.

But for the Army’s new PNT capability, Atkinson said the fielding process is likely to be long. Developed by Collins Aerospace, the Mounted Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing System (MAPS) and the dismounted variant known as DAPS are designed to give soldiers assured PNT in GPS-contested environments.

The department started initial fielding of the capability during fiscal 2024, and plans to begin scaling the system across the service in fiscal 2025, according to Atkinson.

“That is a long fielding process. That’s hundreds of thousands of individual items that the Army continues to upgrade to make sure that we have sound PNT,” he said.

Atkinson also highlighted the Army’s prototyping efforts for the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN), a ground station that will integrate data from multiple platforms across all domains to assist commanders in making sense of the battlefield.

The service awarded Palantir a $178.4 million other transaction agreement for TITAN in March, under which the company will deliver five “basic” and five “advanced” variants of the ground station over a two-year period.

For the Army’s space modernization efforts, the platform will give soldiers immediate access to space-based ISR at remote locations, Atkinson said.

“There is a tremendous amount of innovation happening with space-based ISR. We’re seeing it in commercial, we’re seeing it in industry and we’re seeing it across the [intelligence community],” he said. “So being able to harness that is going to be critical for the Army.”

The department has been more tight-lipped about specific systems it is developing for its interdiction mission, but they are considered offensive space control capabilities designed to deny adversaries the ability to use space for hostile purposes “by delivering necessary fires and effects at echelon to protect friendly forces from observation and targeting by counter-satellite communications, counter-surveillance and reconnaissance, and navigation warfare operations,” according to the space vision.

Atkinson said the service is trying to outpace emerging threats from China and Russia’s recent growth in the space domain. Although space control isn’t a new requirement, the threat is now pushing the Army to scale more tactical interdiction systems.

“The threat landscape has evolved significantly coming out of [counterinsurgency] and transitioning to great-power competition,” he said. “We have not been focused on a conflict with Russia and China, and when you look at their use of space capabilities, it really threatens our way of life, our way of war and our abilities.”

As the Army carves out its new role in the space domain, it’s working closely with the Space Force and others across the Pentagon to ensure there is no duplication of effort and that each service’s space capabilities complement each other.

“The Army’s not doing space for space,” Atkinson said. “There’s a direct requirement for the Army to protect its forces, to ensure that we can enable our moving maneuver and basic functions. And right now we can’t strip out all the requirements for space and cyberspace.”

The post ‘This is not enough’: Army grappling with increased demand for space capabilities, personnel appeared first on DefenseScoop.

According to a recent notice to industry posted on Sam.gov, SDA intends to release the first draft solicitations for Tranche 3 of the PWSA’s tracking and transport layers in early 2025. Those satellites — slated to begin launching in 2028 — are expected to provide advancements in capabilities from previous tranches, as well as feature new warfighting applications.

An SDA spokesperson confirmed that approximately 200 satellites will make up Tranche 3 of the PWSA. The constellation is being developed and fielded in batches or “tranches,” and it’s expected to eventually comprise hundreds of space vehicles in low-Earth orbit that carry critical technologies for data transport and missile defense missions.

The Tranche 3 transport layer is being divided into three separate variants — Upsilon, Sigma and Lambda — that each have slightly different capabilities, the same strategy SDA used to develop transport satellites for Tranche 2’s transport layer. The agency expects to issue up to two awards for each variant, according to the notice.

A draft solicitation for the Upsilon variant is slated be published in early 2025, and those for the Sigma and Lambda variants are to be released in the spring and summer of 2025, respectively. The final solicitation for the Upsilon and Sigma variants are anticipated to be released during the third quarter of fiscal 2025, followed by the final Lambda solicitation in the fourth quarter of FY ’25.

Because solicitations are still being finalized, the agency could not provide details as to what specific capabilities will be in each variant. However, the notice stated that Tranche 3 transport satellites will support “the advancement of the PWSA’s Tracking capabilities by adding capacity and robustness to the global mesh network.” 

SDA will also build out the PWSA’s ability to conduct position, navigation and timing (PNT) in Tranche 3, according to the notice. While transport satellites in the first and second batches are expected to deliver initial PNT capabilities, the third tranche will feature enhancements in time transfer and ranging technologies, the SDA spokesperson told DefenseScoop.

As for the Tranche 3 tracking layer, the agency plans to release a draft solicitation in the spring of 2025 and the final version in the summer, according to the notice. SDA previously published a request for information in July that sought industry feedback on its plans for the third tracking layer, which will include systems that are equipped with infrared sensors and able to provide warfighters with fire control-quality data.

At the same time, the notice indicated that SDA is considering development of a PWSA Enterprise Ground effort, although it didn’t provide specific details or timelines for when solicitations might be published.

The notice to industry for Tranche 3 came after the agency decided to adjust its acquisition strategy for the PWSA to allow more time for vendors to build their platforms. In September, SDA Director Derek Tournear said previous contracts required industry to have systems ready to launch within two-and-a-half years of the contract date, but the agency has since extended that to three years.

The post SDA lays out plans for third batch of data transport, missile tracking satellites appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) constellation, which includes two sats, was sent into orbit via a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The systems — built by Northrop Grumman — will operate in a highly elliptical orbit and provide comms for both commercial and military applications in the High North, according to a company press release.

The launch marks the first time an operational U.S. military payload is being hosted on a commercial satellite operated by a foreign partner, according to the Space Force — a key milestone in the United States’ effort to strengthen collaboration with international allies in the space domain.

Included in the constellation are two Enhanced Polar System — Recapitalization (EPS-R) secure communications payloads for the U.S. Space Force. Also built by Northrop Grumman, the payloads will extend current satellite communications capability in the Arctic region until the service’s next-generation Protected Tactical SATCOM (PTS) system is fielded in the early 2030s, according to the Department of Defense.

“Northrop Grumman’s end-to-end mission expertise and proven ability to deliver cutting-edge technology on orbit enables our customers’ most challenging missions,” Rob Fleming, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Space Systems, said in a statement. “Our team came together at every stage of design, test and integration to bring commercial broadband and protected military satellite communications to the Arctic for many years to come.”

Improving connectivity in the austere Arctic region is a centerpiece of the Defense Department’s 2024 Arctic Strategy, published in July. The strategy calls on the Pentagon to leverage space-based communications infrastructure that can bolster its ability to operate in environments above 65 degrees North latitude.

“In addition to military satellite communications solutions to improve tactical and strategic communications, specifically above 65 degrees North latitude, DoD should pursue technology through commercial partners and agreements with NATO Allies and partners,” the strategy stated.

Space Norway is a state-owned firm that manages and develops space-based infrastructure and services for government and commercial uses. Along with the two EPS-R payloads for the Space Force, the ASBM constellation also includes an X-band payload for Norway’s armed forces and a Ka-band payload for commercial satellite operator Viasat, according to Northrop Grumman.

A company fact sheet noted that a secure payload interface isolates the EPS-R payloads from the rest of the satellite constellation, “paving the way for future hybrid military-commercial launches and bringing down the cost of distributing capabilities.”

The post SpaceX launches 2 US military payloads for Arctic connectivity appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The request for proposal, published on Sam.gov, is for the Gamma variant of SDA’s Tranche 2 transport layer, of which the organization plans to purchase “approximately 20” space vehicles from a single vendor. The satellites will be part of a larger constellation of 216 systems that “will provide global communications access and deliver persistent regional encrypted connectivity in support of Warfighter missions around the globe,” according to the solicitation.

The Tranche 2 transport layer will be one part of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), a planned constellation of hundreds of satellites stationed in low-Earth orbit carrying satellite communications, data transport, missile warning and missile-tracking capabilities. The first operational batch of transport satellites in Tranche 1 will provide regional communications, and Tranche 2 will look to expand that coverage across the world.

Overall, the transport layer is considered a key component to realizing Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) — the Pentagon-wide effort to connect the U.S. military’s sensors and shooters under a more unified network. 

The layer will comprise satellites across three different configurations — dubbed Alpha, Beta and Gamma — that have common baseline mission payloads but each offer slightly different capabilities.

Specifically, the Gamma variants will be uniquely equipped with the secretive Warlock mission payload, according to the RFP. While the agency has revealed little about the specific requirements for Warlock, an SDA announcement notes the payloads will be “specifically designed to close future kill chains,” and previous releases indicated that Gamma satellites will provide fire control solutions to warfighters.

The solicitation comes about a week after Congress passed a $825 billion defense spending bill for fiscal 2024, ending a nearly six-month-long continuing resolution. According to a report from Breaking Defense, SDA was forced to delay releasing the solicitation for the Gamma variant until funds for FY ’24 were approved.

Responses to the solicitation are due April 30.

SDA expects to begin launching the first satellites for Tranche 2 in September 2026, and the Gamma satellites are expected to go into orbit by July 2027.

The agency has already awarded contractors for the other two variants in the Tranche 2 tracking layer. In October 2023, Northrop Grumman and York Space Systems were awarded a combined $1.3 billion for the Alpha configurations, of which there will be 100 total satellites.

As for the Beta satellites, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman received $816 million and $733 million, respectively, in August 2023 to each build and deliver 36 space vehicles. Later in January, SDA added Rocket Lab National Security as the third vendor for the Beta variant with a $515 million contract to deliver 18 spacecraft — bringing the total number of Beta satellites to 90.

According to SDA, the agency determined that some of the satellites initially planned for the Gamma variant needed to be shifted over to the Beta configuration as a way to improve tactical satcom capabilities.

The post After delay, SDA soliciting bids for next batch of global communications satellites appeared first on DefenseScoop.

As part of the initiative, AFRL plans to conduct a set of demonstrations that will aim to provide military aircraft with ubiquitous connectivity using commercial spacecraft and networks.

The Pentagon announced the $9 million deal with Intelsat on Wednesday.

“This contract provides for efforts to develop and experimentally test satellite communications (SATCOM) systems capable of operating with multiple commercial space internet constellations operating in low, medium, and geostationary earth orbits offering a new low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) terminal that easily integrates onto aircraft platforms to provide resilient, high throughput, globally available, and highly reliable SATCOM,” per the announcement.

It was a competitive acquisition and 11 offers were received, according to the department.

The company’s work on the DEUCSI resilient multi-orbit airborne module (ROAM) effort is expected to be completed by Nov. 26, 2024.

Earlier this year, the Air Force awarded an $80 million contract to Northrop Grumman and an $81 million deal to L3Harris for DEUCSI.

The Defense Department previously inked agreements with Raytheon ($13 million), Lockheed Martin ($17 million), Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. ($10 million) and L3 Technologies ($18 million) to work on the program.

A key goal of DEUCSI is to establish “path agnostic communications,” or the ability to “reliably communicate to any location on the globe without explicitly specifying which nodes of a communication network to use,” according to a call for proposals.

The program could aid the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) initiative, which seeks to connect the various platforms and data streams of the U.S. military services, allies and international partners under a more unified network to enable more effective decision-making.

The post Air Force taps Intelsat for commercial space internet project appeared first on DefenseScoop.

According to a post added to DIU’s website Wednesday, the organization is looking for commercial solutions addressing four capability areas: persistent sensing, data transport, high-performance edge computing and data fusion.

The Hybrid Space Architecture effort, first launched in 2021, aims to create a space-based network setup for military users that is augmented by satellites and other innovations developed by the commercial sector. DIU is collaborating with the Space Force’s Space Warfighting Analysis Center (SWAC), the Air Force Research Laboratory’s space vehicles directorate and Space Systems Command on the program. 

“In the space communications arena, legacy government systems are extremely capable but are reliant on proprietary data architectures that are not scalable or easily integrated,” the solicitation states. “New commercial space systems leverage modern information architectures based on open standards which improve speed, latency, scalability, and interoperability.”

By creating an agile and resilient communications capability in space, DIU considers the Hybrid Space Architecture to be a critical enabler to the Pentagon’s vision for future warfighting known as Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2).

It “will provide secure, assured, low latency, and multi-path communications across a scalable, resilient and multi-domain network. The HSA must also be flexible enough to remain relevant and trusted during times of rapid technological change and dynamic threat environments,” the solicitation notes.

Proposals from industry are due by Dec. 11 and must address at least one of the four focus areas that cover a range of technologies and use cases.

For example, DIU is looking for commercial space-based sensors, including capabilities “for centrally routing and managing commercial collection requests necessary for global ordering, storing, and accessing commercial sensor data,” according to the solicitation.

Another focus area calls for edge computing solutions that enable autonomous processing of advanced analytics and workflow algorithms in remote environments that will help warfighters in remote locations receive information at faster rates.

The remaining capability areas cover scalable data transport solutions that enable low latency communications — including  for both line-of-site and beyond-line-of-site connections — as well as data fusion tools for “secure data aggregation and analysis to provide or enable modeling and simulation, mission planning, mission management, and execution decision point criteria for end users and decision makers.”

This is the second solicitation sent to industry for the Hybrid Space Architecture. The first was posted in 2021 and focused on multi-path network orchestration, multi-source data fusion, cloud-based computing and more.

DIU has since awarded contracts to at least eight companies for prototyping work on the program: Aalyria, Anduril, Atlas, Enveil, SpiderOak Mission Systems, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Microsoft Azure Space.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, the Defense Innovation Unit aims to connect the Defense Department with sectors of the commercial world that have readily available technologies with military applications.

The organization is primed to move toward a new operational phase referred to as “DIU 3.0” by its director, Doug Beck, that will see deeper collaboration efforts between the military services, other Pentagon offices, and international partners and allies to better scale commercial technologies for warfighters.

The post DIU looks to add more capabilities to ‘hybrid’ space-based architecture appeared first on DefenseScoop.