Recent high-profile LEO satellite outages have highlighted the dangers and vulnerabilities military customers face when depending on a single satellite network for mission-critical connectivity and communications services. Speaking from experience as a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army, the loss of satellite communications (SATCOM) systems can be catastrophic for a mission, and these outages prove that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) should never put all its SATCOM eggs in one basket.

When access to a primary communications system is denied, degraded, or lost during a mission, it is imperative that warfighters are equipped with a pre-determined Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency (PACE) plan that ensures an operation maintains the connectivity and communications capabilities it requires. If access to a primary radio, terminal, or satellite system is lost and the mission does not have alternate, contingency, or emergency communications options to fall back on, the operation has essentially failed, and warfighters’ lives could be at risk.

Through advancements in multi-orbit, multi-band satellite technologies, the DoD is now implementing PACE plans encompassing satellite systems across all orbits, leading to successful mission outcomes that are supported by a redundant and assured commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) backbone.

Satellite’s Evolving Role in PACE Plans
There was a time when the U.S. military was the leader in developing cutting-edge satellite technologies and capabilities. Twenty years ago, the DoD avoided COMSATCOM and tended to leverage military or government-built satellites for missions. But over time commercial satellite’s pace of innovation and the increased requirement for bandwidth overtook that of the military’s, and the DoD could not match industry’s speed in meeting and fulfilling the SATCOM requirements of warfighting missions.

Today, the military has undergone a sea change regarding its attitude towards COMSATCOM. Since legacy military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) satellites no longer have the capacity that most DoD missions require – combined with the fact that the commercial industry has become far superior in providing the enhanced security, greater bandwidth, higher throughputs, and lower latency military customers are seeking – COMSATCOM has become a critical component of modern warfighting.

The continued evolution of multi-orbit, multi-band COMSATCOM solutions has also reshaped the role satellite systems have played in military PACE plans. Not too long ago, SATCOM was simply a primary form of communication without a role further down the PACE plan.

Today, through the significant advancements in commercial multi-orbit and multi-band technologies, SATCOM’s role in modern warfighting has evolved to the point where the military now crafts PACE plans with multiple different forms of SATCOM connectivity acting as primary and alternative communication options.

This is due to the ability of multi-orbit and multi-band technologies to enable the DoD to seamlessly roll over a mission’s comms from one satellite, orbit, or band to another – providing redundant and uninterrupted access to mission-critical connectivity and capabilities.

Agnostic Integrators and Technological Advancement
This new reality, where COMSATCOM services and capabilities are more redundant and assured, is due to the evolution of multi-band and multi-orbit capabilities. But it’s also a result of technological advancements that make it easier to switch between satellites and satellite networks, and the emergence of agnostic integrators that help build resilient satellite networks for their DoD partners.

Satellite operators that also serve as agnostic integrators provide key advantages to military customers who want multi-orbit, multi-band COMSATCOM built into their PACE plans. Through partnerships with other satellite vendors, agnostic integrators deliver COMSATCOM services that combine satellite capabilities, spanning across orbits and bands.

This is extremely valuable in ensuring that warfighters are supplied with the redundant and assured connectivity their missions require. It is critical to note that agnostic integrators’ access to industry partners’ satellite systems allows them to not only create PACE plan redundancies across orbits, but within a single orbit as well.

Several technological advancements have played a role in enabling military PACE plans to leverage multi-orbit SATCOM capabilities. First is the proliferation of easy-to-deploy LEO satellite products. In the past, deploying satellite terminals at the tactical edge to support a battalion would require three Humvees, nine people, and three generators. Today, warfighters can deploy turn-key terminal devices that can fit in a carry-on bag and be up and running with the press of a button.

Another reason why the use of multi-orbit SATCOM in military PACE plans has exploded in the last few years is due to the technological breakthroughs of auto-PACE solutions like SES Space & Defense’s Secure Integrated Multi-Orbit Networking (SIMON™) capability. Solutions like SIMON can automatically select the best-suited satellite orbit for communications and data to traverse from point A to point B with the least interference. This ensures that any military mission will be supported with built-in redundancy and assured SATCOM.

To learn more about how SES Space & Defense’s SIMON solution is delivering auto-PACE capabilities to the warfighter, click HERE.

The post The Evolving PACE Plan: Multi-Orbit SATCOM Brings Sea Change to Military Comms appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

Ahead of the event, the Government Satellite Report had the opportunity to sit down with one of the conference speakers, Juliana Suess – a space security Research Fellow on the Royal United Services Institute’s (RUSI) Military Sciences team and host of the podcast War in Space.

During our discussion, Juliana delves into the current state of the space threat landscape, as well as the role SATCOM and multi-orbit capabilities are currently playing in military operations today, and pulls back the curtain on some of the expected trends and hot topics that will take center stage at the event.

Government Satellite Report (GSR): What does the space-based threat landscape look like for today’s militaries?

Juliana Suess: When we examine the counter-space weapons landscape, there is a whole host of different capabilities that range from temporary and reversible measures to the non-reversible and permanent damage end of the spectrum.

Though space has become increasingly contested within the last few years, I think what we’ve been seeing are counter-space attacks that fall on the temporary and reversible range in the electromagnetic spectrum or the cyber sphere, though kinetic tests against states’ own assets have also taken place.

GSR: What impact is SATCOM having on multi-domain military operations today? 

Juliana Suess: SATCOM is a key enabler for all operations. I think quite often there’s a misconception that space is an add-on luxury that militaries can begin to afford once everything else is in order. In reality, space-based capabilities are a requisite, because we need SATCOM as part of a military’s daily operations.

If we look at the UK Space Power doctrine, not only does it already state that the vast majority of operations couldn’t be sustained without space, but it also goes on to say that SATCOM is responsible for all beyond-line-of-site communications. So, whether it is an aircraft or a vessel at sea, all multi-domain operations are made possible through satellite communications.

Space is a connector. Without the information and data that we receive through SATCOM and space, a lot of modern military operations simply wouldn’t be possible.

GSR: What benefits are multi-orbit SATCOM capabilities providing to military operations today? 

Juliana Suess: Resilience is a key aspect as it pertains to multi-orbit SATCOM. For example, if an orbit was compromised through a Kessler syndrome-type event or through a large-scale attack on satellites that would make part of an orbit unsafe, having the resilient capability of migrating service to a different orbit and using those satellites is tremendously impactful.

There’s also a utility aspect in these orbits to be considered. For example, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) has very low latency. Communications that don’t have to be classified or tightly secured can leverage a commercial provider in LEO. Whereas more highly secure communication channels can then be reserved for the assets that sit in Geostationary Orbit (GEO).

GSR: What are some of the challenges, needs, and requirement trends you’re seeing from militaries as it pertains to satellite capabilities? What gaps still need to be bridged?

Juliana Suess: In the UK, we have SKYNET – our sovereign satellite communications program which covers a lot of the required satellite capabilities that we need. But when we specifically look at Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), the UK is still very reliant on the U.S, although at least some of those gaps could be bridged with commercial partners.

I think the challenge overall – and the UK is not unique to this – is just money. Space is expensive and space-based projects take a long time. For example, the UK could no longer be part of the EU’s Galileo space program, which is the EU’s answer to GPS. The idea was floated that the UK could build its own PNT system, but the funding aspect made it impossible for a country the size of the UK.

In terms of further trends that we’re seeing, I think resilience will be a continuing factor and consideration as we continue to build out space capabilities. That will translate to having onboard resilience elements such as inter-satellite links that allow satellites to jump over compromised ground segments. Having proliferated constellations in conjunction with multi-orbit capabilities will also be a continuing trend. Militaries will continue to not put all their eggs in one orbital basket, which will be incredibly helpful.

GSR: Next week, military and space industry leaders will convene at the Defence in Space Conference in London. What are the hot topics and trends you foresee being discussed at the event?

Juliana Suess: Since the conference will be an industry-heavy event, I think there will be a lot of discussions around the sovereign assets versus buy-in debate. The UK has put forward the Own-Collaborate-Access (OCA) framework through which it wants to view its space capabilities and the procurement of those capabilities. So, I think that’s definitely a topic that will be explored in terms of how to strike the right balance, as well as if commercial partners are brought into the fold how can they be protected from potential attacks?

When we saw the cyberattack against ViaSat at the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, that was a commercial provider that had the Ukrainian military as one of its clients. That cyberattack highlighted the vulnerability of commercial actors, especially when they’re being used by armed forces or states.

That brings me to the next trend that I think will have a lot of discussion around it, which is how do we keep pace with the threat? I think specifically for space, we need to make a lot more consideration of horizon scanning when it comes to threats because once you put a satellite into space, it’s could be in orbit for the next 10 to 15 years.

In terms of anticipating threats that we need to protect against, we must prepare our hardware and software before launch. In that sense, space is quite unique as we must make more considerations on future protection and resilience before they even become operational.

To learn more about the Defence in Space conference, click HERE.

The post From Sovereign Space to the Pace of the Threat – What to Expect from Defence in Space 2024 appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

Al-Saleh explained that international geopolitics have been the compelling forces behind the desire of world governments to achieve sovereignty of their space systems. “There are tensions and races to figure out who can control communications and who can have access to intelligence bifurcations of the world in different political systems,” Al-Saleh explained. “It’s becoming more and more challenging to figure out how do you become sovereign.”

Defense departments around the globe are currently facing significant, not seen before challenges due to the sophistication of kinetic and cyber-attack methods that could drastically impact the availability of their satellite networks. Al-Saleh pointed to the rise of complex cyberattacks as not only a threat to space sovereignty, but also a motivating factor for governments to attain sovereignty over their systems. “It’s harder to detect, and the nature of cybersecurity now is not just about prevention,” explained Al-Saleh. “It’s about how you react to them.”

Governments are now beginning to shift their focus on how they can protect their space assets and the critical data they transmit in a way that prioritizes sovereignty. For Al-Saleh, he views sovereignty in three distinct components.

The three types of sovereignty
The first is technology sovereignty, which – according to Al-Saleh – is rooted in the idea of having a proliferation of connectivity, communications, and networking paths. Sole reliance on a single technology stream can create an incredibly easy target for adversaries to take advantage of.

If a government or military’s primary source for comms or satellite connectivity is taken out through a cyber or jamming attack, it leaves them with no alternative source to fall back on in times of emergency. Having multiple sources and redundant streams for SATCOM can make an adversary’s target radius extremely small, making it more difficult for an attack to have a widespread effect.

The second component of true communication sovereignty, underlined by Al-Saleh, is operational sovereignty. This pertains to the idea that world governments and militaries should not be fully reliant on third parties to have a functional SATCOM architecture. “How do you make sure that you’re not dependent on somebody operating your infrastructure?” asked Al-Saleh. “You have to have control, to be able to access it, and to move from one contract to the other.”

The last dimension of Al-Saleh’s vision for sovereignty is rooted in data protection. Having assurance that a government’s data is secure, protected, and doesn’t get into the hands of adversaries is a driving force behind reaching a state of sovereignty over a nation’s space assets. “Ownership and control of all the data that you need, must be protected,” said Al-Saleh. “How do you do that in this fast-changing world?”

Partner to enable sovereignty and increase resiliency
Al-Saleh pointed to the PPP model as an important enabler to governments making their space sovereignty visions a reality. He cited numerous, successful collaborations between SES and governments as a sign that sovereignty is possible and within reach.

One partnership example that he highlighted was the collaboration between SES and the Luxembourg government which resulted in GovSat being established. Al-Saleh said, “GovSat is a secure SATCOM capability that is entirely dedicated to governments and institutions. We have a satellite and secure mission operations centre delivering a dedicated service using military bands. We also have dedicated gateways and terminals.”

He underlined that this blueprint can be replicated amongst other ally governments and militaries across the globe. “It’s set up so that the satellite connectivity solutions can be shared with other nations,” said Al-Saleh. “This particular solution can be accessed by NATO and Allied nations.”

MEO Global Services (MGS) is another example that Al-Saleh cited as a successful use case enabling space sovereignty. Through MGS, Luxembourg, the United States and NATO will be able to access SES’s latest SATCOM technology O3b mPOWER for defense and security and disaster recovery. “We’re able to offer services that are of the latest technology, jam-resistant, and feature flexibility and scalability. It is a revolutionary setup .”

To make partnerships work, Al-Saleh explained there are some key enablers that must be part of the process. “One is leveraging existing infrastructure,” said Al-Saleh. “There is a tendency to wish to build something new and something dedicated. And with the examples that I just used, there are highly efficient ways to leverage existing infrastructure and deliver the sovereign solution where the government customer has full control.”

It’s also important to make sure security requirements of the participating governments are met and that roles of each party involved – whether private or government sector – are clearly defined.

“When private sector brings innovation, and government supports it with investment, we create something that’s usable for governments and for commercial purposes across the world,” he said.

Finally, speed of execution is key. Faced with the geopolitical realities of today, Al-Saleh said that parties have to move faster to come up with the right solution. “As an industry where paradigms of satellite manufacturing and operations are constantly evolving, we must all embrace these disruptions to propose the right solution for governments. And together, we have to move fast, to stay ahead of disruption.”

The post SES CEO on Achieving Sovereign Systems Quickly appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

According to Gossett, U.S. SATCOM networks are used to provide command and control, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) backhaul, beyond line-of-sight communications, and the projection of military forces on the ground. But those SATCOM capabilities are currently under threat and have become the prime target of adversarial action.

At last month’s SATELLITE 2024 conference, Gossett moderated a panel discussion with representatives from the U.S. Space Force, the U.S. Navy, Lockheed Martin, and Intelsat, examining the role multi-layer networks can and will play in establishing resilient and reliable SATCOM services that can withstand adversarial attacks.

Gossett explained that the MILSATCOM community and the commercial industry are currently working together to develop multi-orbit and multi-demand solutions that will enable resiliency. “We’ve got the demand side, with the military needing a resilient set of solutions to ensure SATCOM survives deep into the fight,” said Gossett. “On the supply side, we’ve had GEO high-throughput for quite a while. And in the last decade we’ve had MEO high-throughput with SES’ O3b mPOWER, and now we have the rise of LEO.”

Though the demand and supply sides are clearly defined, according to Gossett the challenge now lies in how to stitch these solutions and capabilities together.

Lockheed Martin’s Portfolio Director of Transport Layer Programs, Adrián Cuadra, agreed that integration solutions, capabilities, and networks are key to achieving the resiliency that multi-layer networks can provide to the military. “We cannot rely on having a single network, single capability, or a single layer that performs the mission for us,” said Cuadra. “The multi-layer network and the multi-layer transport…is an interwoven set of network elements that work together.”

Cuadra went on to say that reaching resilient SATCOM will rely on orbital and path diversity that can synthesize data across the tapestry of networks to provide a common operating picture to decision-makers. “Ultimately, [the goal is] to deliver that assured information to the warfighter, wherever and whenever they need it,” he said.

If the commercial industry’s role is to provide the tapestry of networks and systems, what role does the government and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) play in making these SATCOM resiliency capabilities a reality? According to Clare Hopper, Chief of the Space Force’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO), the answer lies in the way the DoD is now facilitating its COMSATCOM contracts to match the pace of industrial innovation.

“[CSCO] is the hub for all things commercial SATCOM,” said Hopper. “As the industry is evolving, we are staying pace by setting up contracts that have the flexibility and scope to facilitate readiness and responsiveness across the globe.”

Hopper explained that the changes the DoD has made with its contracts have opened doors to fully realizing a multi-layer network that fosters resilient and reliable SATCOM. “We’ve made a lot of positive improvement by putting in place more open-ended, flexible contracts that our customers are taking advantage of,” said Hopper. “What comes to mind is our Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) contract that was awarded back in July…Our existing PLEO contract enables multi-orbit solutions.”

And indeed, partnerships between the DoD and commercial industry – like the indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) PLEO contract that Hopper cited – have not only strengthened the SATCOM capabilities that are being delivered to the DoD’s disparate commands and services, but they are also opening the door to a more integrated, resilient space architecture for the Joint Forces.

Through the PLEO contract, satellite operators like SES Space & Defense, as well as satellite integrators, are able to usher the DoD into a new age of SATCOM, where DoD decision-makers can leverage new orbits, frequency bands, and waveforms to ensure the redundancy of mission-critical communications and connectivity resources.

As the space domain becomes further contested, with adversaries demonstrating abilities to disrupt, deny, and degrade U.S. comms networks, the DoD must continue to embrace multi-layer and multi-orbit SATCOM through flexible contracts like the IDIQ PLEO award. By doing so, the DoD and its satellite networks will automatically elevate their levels of resiliency and redundancy, and will be able to execute missions and operations uninterrupted by adversarial attack.

The post How Flexible Contracts and Multi-Layer Networks Deliver SATCOM Resiliency appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

To stay ahead of the threat, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is collaborating with its commercial space partners to ensure that warfighters are provided with satellite services and capabilities designed to outmaneuver and outlast the adversary. Last December, I had the opportunity to attend the DoD Commercial SATCOM Workshop, a special event – hosted by U.S. Space Command – where military and satellite industry leaders came together and tackled some of the DoD’s most pressing satellite communication (SATCOM) challenges, including how to ensure resilient connectivity and assured comms throughout special operations and warfighting missions.

DoD’s SATCOM Goals
One goal that the DoD is looking to achieve is quickly ramping up SATCOM services for special operations within hours of deployment. But with adversaries deploying space capabilities designed to degrade and deny connectivity and comms to the warfighter, the DoD wants to ensure that special operations SATCOM services are backed up with spectrum agility. When warfighting missions become more agile spectrum-wise, it becomes increasingly difficult for an adversary to narrow down its attack calculus.

Another goal that the DoD is getting after is to provide warfighters with SATCOM services that support multi-path communications in remote locations or extreme environments that lack terrestrial networks. Leveraging multi-path comms when executing operations in austere environments helps to ensure redundant, uninterrupted communications in the event an adversary was to breach, degrade, or deny any level of a mission’s PACE Plan.

Industry Answers the Call
A solution that the commercial industry is ready to put forward to support the DoD’s spectrum agility and multi-path comms goals is multi-orbit SATCOM. Providing the DoD with access to multi-orbit services that can switch spectrums mid-mission would ensure that warfighters are supported with resilient connectivity options and redundant communications pathways. Multi-orbit satellite capabilities would also give the military a competitive advantage in the space domain by making it increasingly difficult for adversaries to target and degrade an operation’s connectivity and comms services.

Last March, SES Space & Defense, Hughes, and ThinKom, successfully demonstrated these multi-orbit SATCOM capabilities. Together, the three companies proved their ability to effectively roam between SES’s satellite networks in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geostationary Orbit (GEO).

When executing warfighting operations, if it becomes clear that an adversary is attempting to jam or attack a mission-critical satellite, having the flexibility to transfer mission services and capabilities over to another satellite in a different orbit guarantees connectivity resiliency and comms redundancy.

DoD Adopts Multi-Orbit Services
The DoD has taken notice of these multi-orbit solutions and plans to integrate them into its communications architecture. Last September, it was announced that the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded SES Space & Defense with a multi-year contract to conduct tests to integrate space broadband services across a multi-orbit satellite network that would support the Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program. The DEUCSI program intends to leverage commercial space internet (CSI) constellations with the ability to alternate between Geostationary (GEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.

“An integrated multi-orbit, multi-band satellite architecture is a requirement in today’s contested and congested environment,” said Jim Hooper, SES Space & Defense’s Senior Vice President of Space Initiatives. “The DEUCSI program is a great example to showcase…multi-orbit, multi-band holistic approaches to deliver seamless interoperability to the U.S. Air Force to achieve unparalleled situation awareness and strategic advances for mission success.”

Last September, the DoD made another step towards adopting and integrating multi-orbit services when the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awarded indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts to satellite operators and integrators – including SES Space & Defense – for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) satellite services. Embracing PLEO services will deliver resiliency and assuredness benefits to DISA by having satellite capabilities that are both multi-band and multi-orbit.

“Today, the military is facing near-peer adversaries that have demonstrated their ability to disrupt, deny, and degrade our communications networks,” said Ben Pigsley, Senior Vice President of Defense Networks at SES Space & Defense. “Both multi-orbit and multi-band network solutions offer an elevated level of resiliency and increase availability to government customers.”

Events like the DoD Commercial SATCOM Workshop provide the private sector with opportunities to learn about the military’s top satellite and space challenges directly from DoD leadership. As the military and industry continue to foster this open dialogue, the private sector will be better equipped to redirect its attention and efforts toward developing and producing SATCOM solutions and services to support the DoD in reaching its goals.

The post DoD, Industry Tackle Connectivity and Comms Challenges at SATCOM Workshop appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

During a recent Mitchell Institute Schreiver Spacepower Forum, Gen Shaw sat down with Gen. Kevin P. Chilton (Ret.) to examine the three distinct Space Ages that the U.S. government and military have operated within. They also discussed the role that commercial space has played during the most recent Third Space Age where the domain has become contested by adversarial actions and threats.

The three Space Ages
From Gen Shaw’s viewpoint, there have been three Space Ages thus far. He explained that the first Space Age began at the start of the Cold War and was primarily focused on national security and scientific exploration through the Apollo missions. Gen Shaw noted that during this era there was little to no commercial presence. The commercial space industry would not be involved until cable television took off during the tail end, which represented industry’s initial footprint in the domain. “[Commercial space] was very nascent in that time,” said Gen Shaw. “We all wanted our MTV.”

Towards the closing of the Cold War, there was an inflection point that Gen Shaw attributes to the dawn of the Second Space Age. “What had been our adversaries in the space domain ended up partnering with us to do the International Space Station,” said Gen Shaw. Those collaborations represented the Second Space Age from a civil standpoint, but from a national security standpoint, it wasn’t until the Gulf War that space was truly leveraged for military missions.

“The Gulf War happened right at that inflection point,” said Gen Shaw. “That was also where I began and spent most of my career delivering space capabilities to the tactical level: GPS, ISR, missile warning, etc.” According to Gen Shaw, this era also saw a spike in commercial space activity. Commercial companies already had been doing work in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) by then, but during this period, they began to experiment in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as well. “But the government capabilities were still sort of the premier capabilities that we knew of and used,” said Gen Shaw.

“We leverage…commercial activity and capabilities across the spectrum – SATCOM, space domain awareness, and imaging – in ways that we never really did earlier…There’s a dependence that we have on them now that is part of our broader force set that we bring.” – Lt Gen John E. Shaw

The Third Space Age, according to Gen Shaw, began around 2015 when commercial space companies began to test and demonstrate extraordinary capabilities that had never been seen before. This was a time when the world saw its first operational large-scale satellite proliferation in LEO. Another major marker of this Third Space Age was the realization that the space domain was no longer a benign environment. “It was in 2015 that we first started talking publicly…that there were now threats in the domain,” said Gen Shaw.

The contested space domain

Though space as a warfighting domain may not have been publicly discussed until 2015, there was plenty of evidence of that fact before then.

“In 2007, we had the Chinese do an ASAT test,” said Gen Chilton. “But it takes us eight years to finally come to admit that, yes, it is indeed a warfighting domain?” And adversarial actions in the space arena have only escalated since that time. As Gen Chilton also pointed out, U.S. adversaries and near-peer competitors in recent years are demonstrating aggressive capabilities that could jeopardize the security and safety of American assets in space.

“Today, U.S. Space Command now operates in a domain where threats are on the rise,” said Gen Chilton. “Adversaries like China are increasingly seeking to contest this domain. Their capabilities include everything from ground-based direct ascent missiles, to electronic warfare, jamming, and co-orbital rendezvous satellites. The impact on U.S. national security interests is significant.”

Gen Shaw explained that the realization that the U.S. needed to be prepared to defend against adversarial threats in space led to the creation of the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command. During the forum, he addressed some of the pessimistic viewpoints surrounding the creation of the Space Force in 2019. “There were a lot of naysayers at the time,” he said. “Was this a good idea? But looking back, it was a brilliant move.”

“Today, U.S. Space Command operates in a domain where threats are on the rise. Adversaries like China are increasingly seeking to contest this domain. Their capabilities include everything from ground-based direct ascent missiles, to electronic warfare, jamming, and co-orbital rendezvous satellites. The impact on U.S. national security interests is significant.” – Gen. Kevin P. Chilton (Ret.)

According to Gen Shaw, all of the challenges that the government acknowledged in 2015 have only continued to advance and grow. “If we were trying to stand up the Space Command and Space Force now, four years later, we would be much further behind in addressing these threats, making the environment more secure for all the participants that are going to be there, and strengthening all those partnerships across all the sectors,” said Gen Shaw.

Commercial space in the Third Space Age

Gen Shaw noted that the Third Space Age has really brought all of the space sectors together in a unique way that was never before witnessed in the first two Space Ages. “Another interesting dynamic in this Third Space Age…is all of those sectors – civil, scientific, commercial, and national security – are now interdependent in ways they certainly weren’t in the First Space Age, and mostly not in the Second Space Age,” said Gen Shaw.

“We leveraged from a national security perspective, commercial activity and capabilities across the spectrum – SATCOM, space domain awareness, and imaging – in ways that we never really did earlier, to a greater degree. There’s a dependence that we have on them now that is part of our broader force set that we bring.”

As for the specific relationship the U.S. government and military have with the commercial space industry, Gen Shaw describes it as a solid partnership. “We’re in a symbiotic relationship with commercial space today,” he said. “We support them and their operations to operate safely and securely, but they also provide capabilities to us.”

He explained that the SATCOM, imagery, and space domain awareness capabilities that industry provides to the government and military are extremely critical. “We rely on commercial imagery now more than we ever have,” said Gen Shaw. “In those early days of the Ukraine conflict, I think we all watched the news stations that were showing imagery of that Russian convoy that was stalled outside Kyiv…Was that declassified NRO government imagery that we were seeing on the news? That was not. It was commercial, and it was pretty timely.”

Gen Shaw went on to say that the advancements coming out of the commercial space industry are not only impressive, but they are promoting global transparency amongst the world governments. “It was achieving more than just a news need,” said Gen Shaw. “It was actually achieving an international awareness need.”

Click the video below to watch the Spacepower Forum in its entirety.

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During a recent Mitchell Institute Schriever Spacepower Forum, Gen. Kevin P. Chilton (Ret.) pointed out to Gen. David D. Thompson, Vice Chief of Space Operations at the Space Force, that space has shifted away from being a benign domain to an extremely competitive operating environment. In response to how the force is maturing as an organization and responding to the level of activity in the domain, Gen. Thompson said, “We are very much clearly in the next chapter of the Space Force…[Now] the mission of the Space Force is to deliver on the capabilities and the promises that we’ve made as part of the establishment.”

Gen. Thompson explained that the Space Force is indeed responding to the changes in the space domain by having a combat-ready force with advanced testing, training, and the ability to deliver warfighting capabilities. Gen. Thompson attributes a lot of this forward momentum to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, Frank Calvelli, who was appointed to his position last year.

“He has brought us perspective and insight, and [has driven] a real change to how we look at space acquisition,” said Gen. Thompson. “[Calvelli is] focusing on simplifying, delivering, and meeting our promises in terms of the capabilities we deliver on time and on cost.”

Part of delivering those capabilities is the continuous development and deployment of a resilient space architecture, a key priority that Space Force leadership has been focusing on since the branch’s founding. Gen. Chilton asked Gen. Thompson about how the Space Force has been approaching the development of its architecture in a way that can withstand a possible “first-mover” strike by an adversary. Gen. Thompson explained that a proliferated architecture is where the answer resides.

“I would say distribution and proliferation in all of its elements,” said Gen. Thompson. “We certainly think about proliferated architectures in a very narrow sense, like having a large number of satellites in one orbital regime. [We must] distribute those capabilities across multiple regimes, which means that an adversary – if they’re going to attack you in space – has to have a very sophisticated and synchronized means of attack.”

Another approach that Gen. Thompson believes can eliminate strategic surprises from adversaries is to adopt a “new understanding” of space domain awareness. “[We must be] truly thinking more carefully about what it means to fully understand what’s happening in the domain, especially a direct-focused perspective on space domain awareness,” said Gen. Thompson. “As the human race continues to expand out into the solar system, the moon, and beyond, we believe our responsibility is to understand what’s happening in the domain.”

A critical component of being one step ahead of an adversary in the space domain, according to Gen. Thompson, is having a level of resiliency that will ensure that warfighters – across all services – can continue their operations in cases of degradation or denial in the space environment. “I’m not one who believes that degradation or denial of use of space will occur broadly and over a long period of time,” said Gen. Thompson. “But understanding where the reliance is, and how [the military services] might operate in that environment, is the first piece of it.”

This rapidly changing threat environment that Gen. Thompson describes is something that the industry has taken notice of and has been testing services and solutions specifically designed to promote military resiliency in the space domain.

As Gen. Thompson pointed out, there is currently a need among all military branches to have continued and uninterrupted delivery of space-based services, especially during adversarial attempts to degrade or deny space capabilities. For example, if an adversary were to successfully jam or degrade a satellite’s ability to provide connectivity to warfighters on the ground, it is imperative that the military be able to roll connectivity and services over to another satellite, in order to have uninterrupted and unaffected operations.

In March of this year, SES, Hughes, and ThinKom, came together to test space capabilities that could transform how the military strategically leverages SATCOM services. The three companies held a demonstration that effectively illustrated the ability of an end satellite user to seamlessly roam between satellite services originating in different orbits and leveraging different frequency bands. This verified capability speaks directly to the DoD’s need for the distribution of services across “multiple orbital regimes,” as Gen. Thompson described.

According to Ben Pigsley, SVP of Defense Networks at SES Space & Defense, “The military is facing near-peer adversaries that have demonstrated their ability to disrupt, deny, and degrade our communications networks. In today’s environment, government networks are both congested and contested with deliberate and directed jamming, cyberattacks, and kinetic attacks.”

When asked about SES Space & Defense’s successful multi-orbit testing and how the DoD could leverage those capabilities, he said, “Both multi-orbit and multi-band network solutions offer an elevated level of resiliency and increase availability to government customers. Higher availability is critical to the command-and-control networks operated by the DoD…The military’s industry partners are ready to support both multi-band and multi-orbit operations.”

Click the video below to watch the Spacepower Forum in its entirety.

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One topic of discussion that received a considerable amount of buzz throughout the conference was the federal government and military’s need for connectivity at the North and South Poles.

At first glance, it may seem that having SATCOM capabilities at the Poles is unnecessary. But my conversations with government and military leaders at Space Symposium showed that there is – indeed – an undeniable need for COMSATCOM solutions and capabilities at the Poles.

Research and national defense
Even though there are very few people who live and work at the North and South Poles, the mission sets that present U.S. government and military personnel are carrying out in these areas are absolutely critical to not only national security, but to scientific research and development as well.

If we were to take a trip down to the remote South Pole, we would find scientists and researchers from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) making groundbreaking discoveries in the areas of astronomy, astrophysics, seismology, climate change, among many others.

Without reliable connectivity and communications capabilities, government researchers are unable to uplink the critical data back to those that will analyze and learn from it in the continental U.S. As a result, major scientific progress could be halted and left unsupported during a time when rising sea levels and record-breaking natural disasters are threatening American lives every day. It is critical that the federal government be able to provide scientists with the SATCOM capabilities they require to continue producing world-saving research.

And much like in the South Pole, the remote North Pole also supports scientific, government research that requires SATCOM solutions that can power the massive data exchanges coming to and from the area. But, unlike the South Pole, there are additional military requirements for SATCOM services at the North Pole.

Two of our largest, near-peer adversaries are located in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility (AOR). As global climate change continues to open passages on additional travel routes through the North Pole region, the need to protect newly-formed commercial trade routes from those adversaries increases. There is also an increased need to defend the U.S. and its northern allies from threats that leverage these new northern passages.

The threats U.S. adversaries pose to national security is always evolving. To secure U.S. borders from potential, incoming threats the government and military must leverage digital transformation at the North Pole, through the proliferation of military, marine, and aerospace sensors that can detect security threats that may pose risks to the homeland.

With traditional, terrestrial networks unavailable, SATCOM is necessary to get sensor data from these remote locations back to military and civilian support organizations and their decision-makers. By leveraging SATCOM to connect a new generation of advanced Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and devices, our military and civilian organizations can gain better situational awareness at the Poles, understand changing weather patterns, and be better prepared to defend our nation from pacing threats.

But what commercial satellite capabilities are available in the Poles?

Why the Poles are HOT for satellite providers
There are many rural, remote, and geographically isolated places in our country that are without access to terrestrial networks because there simply isn’t a business case for telecoms or other internet service providers (ISP) to invest in the infrastructure. And it’s easy to understand why. Since the number of residents that would pay for the service is limited, these companies simply wouldn’t make their investment back, let alone make a meaningful return on that investment.

Something similar has long hampered the launch of satellite constellations that provide service to the North and South Poles. In places where penguins and polar bears outnumber people, there is very little need for satellite services, and very little revenue to be generated from launching multiple satellites to deliver coverage to these areas.

But that is beginning to change rapidly. Increased demand from government and military users in these remote areas is driving a growing need for satellite services. In partnerships with global governments, there could now be a reasonable business case for commercial satellite service providers to expand coverage to the poles. And this is one of the reasons why so many conversations at Space Symposium focused on this topic – renewed and increased interest in the Poles from both the government and its industry partners.

For example, as a satellite operator with the only HTS satellite constellation in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), SES Space and Defense, strategically designed second generation MEO constellation, O3b mPOWER with capabilities to operate in inclined planes and in the future extend MEO to the poles. As scientific expeditions and military operations continue to expand at the Poles, the future capabilities that MEO will provide will be paramount to mission success.

This was a sentiment shared by Steve Collar, the CEO of SES, during his recent keynote address at the SATELLITE 2023 Conference. “From an SES standpoint, we designed O3b mPOWER to be capable to also operate in inclined planes. That would be the next step for us…That means polar capability and polar coverage that allows us to add more capabilities,” Collar said. “We won’t be limited in the future to just communications. We can add more services and more missions to this incredibly strategic orbit.”

Learn how SES Space and Defense is providing satellite services to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, HERE.

Listen to SES Space and Defense’s Vice President of Government Relations, Jon Bennett, discuss why commercial connectivity is critical for communications at the Arctic Circle, HERE.

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But successes are usually accompanied by setbacks and challenges. Even after witnessing these incredible use-case wins for COMSATCOM integration and adoption, the federal government has still been slow and hesitant to fully implement and deploy these satellite technologies that can support the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) mission of providing its military with a resilient space architecture.

Though officials frequently point to this space architecture as a top priority for the department, the government acquisition process of commercial space assets – which could truly propel the U.S. ahead of its foreign adversaries and near-peer competitors – was still sluggish and arduous in 2022.

To learn more about the trends, progress, and challenges the commercial satellite industry faced within the federal acquisition space in 2022, and to get an outlook on how COMSATCOM can support the federal government and the DoD’s mission requirements in 2023, the Government Satellite Report was able to catch up with SES Space & Defense’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Development, Jay Icard.

Government Satellite Report (GSR): Over the past year, what overarching trends is the commercial satellite industry seeing and experiencing as it pertains to government acquisition? What successes has the industry experienced? What new challenges have come up?

Jay Icard: We’ve seen the government shift away from the lowest price technically acceptable procurements to using best value, which is good! The number of networks has remained flat, meaning the commercial industry repeatedly competes for the same contracts.

Having said that, the U. S. Space Force awarded some significant COMSATCOM contracts last year, such as the CSSC II contract for the U.S. Navy, which is over $900M ceiling – not a small effort. They also released some new solicitations, such as the Global X-band Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA), which should prove to be an enabling contract for MILSATCOM-COMSATCOM integration in the near future.

One concerning challenge that has been popping up these last few years pertains to the current talent pool. If you look at the needs for talent on the government acquisition side, they need personnel to develop the requirements with their customers. They need personnel to evaluate the proposals, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find experienced personnel that wants to work on COMSATCOM acquisitions.

“Along with assuming full acquisition and procurement authorities for COMSATCOM, Space Command should work with Space Force to create Program Objective Memorandum (POM) budgets for select procurements of COMSATCOM.” – Jay Icard

It’s not common for people to go to college and major in COMSATCOM engineering. The government and industry compete from the same resource talent pool. Our industry is not something you learn in a couple of months.

The 2016 “Analysis of Alternatives” study, mandated by Congress, required the Department to look at how military and commercial systems could collectively provide a resilient enterprise architecture. The study found that leveraging both military and commercial systems into an integrated hybrid architecture would save taxpayer dollars. That said, we need government professionals that understand the SATCOM acquisition business.

U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command are working to integrate COMSATCOM, and they choose from that same talent pool, because there’s still a finite number of professionals with the required skillsets. It’s an industry-wide dilemma. I’ve had a number of discussions with Space Force, Space Command, and industry leaders about this topic.

GSR: What are the possible solutions for those skill gaps in the workforce?

Jay Icard: We’ve spoken with Space Force about immersion. For example, in the past, there have been immersion programs where civilian or military personnel would spend time at a vendor’s facility within an operations or engineering team to learn about how the vendor works and operates.

I participate in the U.S. Space Command’s Commercial Integration Cell (CIC), a group of ten industry partners that work with the command to improve the operational effectiveness of space operations. Within the CIC, we have explored several ideas about bridging that skills gap. Immersion of personnel is one of the ideas that are out there. We know it is an effective method, but it requires a deliberate plan that makes sense for all parties to invest the resources to make it successful.

GSR: Has the government and military made any headway with tearing down the bureaucratic challenges that hinder commercial satellite acquisitions? Has there been any progress or new challenges that have come up? How can government and industry work together to make the process faster while meeting military requirements?

Jay Icard: I believe the government is working on it. They have stabilized their organization and where the COMSATCOM purchasing organization is going to sit within Space Systems Command.

Along with assuming full acquisition and procurement authorities for COMSATCOM, Space Command should work with Space Force to create Program Objective Memorandum (POM) budgets for select procurements of COMSATCOM. For example, the government should consider the POM budget for ground infrastructure and network configuration projects to use existing commercial space assets and place into service MILSATCOM-COMSATCOM roaming configurations discussed in the Space Force Vision for SATCOM. But in general, Space Command and Space Force should see where the POM process can be used to ensure a stable and methodical approach to accelerating the availability of COMSATCOM solutions for military requirements.

“First, we must address where we anticipate conflict and where there may be surge needs. That’s first and foremost.” – Jay Icard

We’re not talking about billions and billions of dollars. Small investments could create a lot of capability with COMSATCOM integration in a short amount of time. But first, the organization needs to be set, and the roles and responsibilities tightened up, and I think they have that now.

GSR: Has establishing the U.S. Space Force and having one centralized service for space simplified the commercial satellite acquisition process?

Jay Icard: I believe it will, and I think the measures of success are straightforward. When presented with a mission need from a service or COCOM:  1) Have we reduced the time to acquire a COMSATCOM service? 2) Have we reduced the time to activate a COMSATCOM service? Those are the fundamental measures of success.

So if I have a need for a certain amount of throughput or network availability in a specific area – How long did it take me to acquire? How long did it take you to activate? That’s where the rubber meets the road.

GSR: What are the top SATCOM needs and requirements that the military and government are looking to fulfill in 2023?

Jay Icard: First, we must address where we anticipate conflict and where there may be surge needs. That’s first and foremost. Are we ready to surge? Do we have the capacity in place to fulfill a surge requirement? In any other networking discipline, it’s busy hour traffic management. Are we ready for the busy hour traffic?

Second, do we have plans to fulfill the future capacity needs? As our capacity consumption grows over the next five years, do we have enough MILSATCOM and COMSATCOM to fulfill that need? Where are the gaps? What are the plans to fill those gaps?

And it could be that we have the space assets to fill the gaps. But do we have the ground assets configured to utilize the space assets that are available to us? Do we have the contracting mechanisms to access the space and ground assets in a timely manner?

“Are we using our assets and skills and implementing those capabilities now and in a short timeline with small amounts of money? Or are we studying to do it five years from now?” – Jay Icard

GSR: On December 23, 2022, President Biden signed the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In the 2023 NDAA, there is a portion that directs the DoD to lay out a strategy and requirements for the protection of DoD satellites. How can the satellite industry assist in realizing these strategies and requirements for a more resilient and defendable national security space architecture, as the law states?

Jay Icard: Accelerate the employment of COMSATCOM integration into military missions, making the enemy’s targeting calculus more complicated. It’s a low-cost and near-term solution to protect MILSATCOM and COMSATCOM assets.

Suppose an enemy focuses their resources into a space asset and successfully disables it. In that case, they will only affect a small percent of the traffic if effective COMSATCOM integration has been employed. To me, that’s been the priority for years now, and that’s the purpose of COMSATCOM integration.

I think the other “tests” we ask in an effort to accelerate COMSATCOM integration include: Are we utilizing the contracts that we have? Are we using our assets and skills and implementing those capabilities now and in a short timeline with small amounts of money? Or are we studying to do it five years from now? Are we studying a problem that we could solve with small and timely investment that could have real mission effects in the near term?  I think that is a test that all of us in the industry and in the policymaking side need to ask ourselves.

To learn about how SES Space & Defense’s new O3b mPOWER constellation can support missions across the federal government and military, click HERE.

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The name change, effective immediately, comes after SES Government Solutions merged with the recently acquired DRS Global Enterprise Solutions (DRS GES). According to the company, the SES Space & Defense name reflects the organization’s new positioning and expanded offering serving the needs of the U.S. government and military customers.

Over the past four months, SES Space & Defense saw the appointment of its new leadership team, as well as the integration of capabilities that reflect the newly combined organization and differentiated value proposition. The company is focused on building, managing, and supporting the most advanced satellite network solutions for the U.S. government and Department of Defense (DoD). SES Space & Defense has been restructured to serve its customers across two integral markets – space and defense – by creating two business units, Space Initiatives and Defense Networks, to provide best-in-class satellite network solutions.

The Space Initiatives unit targets fleet-centric projects leveraging SES’s global multi-orbit satellite fleet, infrastructure, and assets. The Defense Networks unit is centered on multi-operator managed services and end-to-end mission-critical communications.

“This is a major milestone for us, and more importantly for our U.S. DoD customers,” said SES Space & Defense President and CEO David Fields. “In August we consolidated two best-in-class organizations focused on the U.S. government satellite communications needs, and we remain fully committed to providing innovative world-class space solutions to our most tactical customers. With SES Space & Defense as our new name, we would like our strategic vision and focus to come through brightly.”

SES Space & Defense’s ICT Portal
In addition to the company’s name change, SES Space & Defense has also announced their new Common Operational Picture (COP) capability, the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Portal.

The ICT Portal is a modular web-based NetOps capability providing end-to-end situational awareness in a consumable single-pane-of-glass user interface. The ICT Portal uses the same holistic and vendor agnostic approach as the SES Space & Defense ICT Ecosystem – providing customers with a comprehensive and flexible monitoring and reporting solution. Accessible anywhere in the world, the technology agnostic capability is customizable based on mission and customer operational requirements.

The consolidated network visibility provides the transparency necessary to rapidly identify and diagnose issues across complex networks, including terrestrial and space assets, so networks and applications can be fully optimized to increase performance. In addition, the ICT Portal allows all SATCOM assets to be viewed as one comprehensive satellite and network architecture, providing customers with access to innovative solutions and making a more resilient satellite architecture a reality.

The ICT Portal is secure by design and incorporates the latest security and data processing technologies, ensuring mission assurance for government and military users.

“Today’s military and government users are more network-enabled than ever before, and our ICT Portal supports this through increased visibility and control over their network,” said SES Space & Defense President and CEO David Fields. “The ICT Portal will be showcased at the SIA DoD COMSATCOM Workshop, enabling our most tactical customers to see how performance, network transparency and assurance, makes it a critical capability for successful missions.”

To learn more about how solutions like the ICT Portal can transform how the military monitors network performance, click HERE.

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