This Summer, SES and the Luxembourg Government announced that they would be commissioning the design and development of GovSat-2, the second military communications satellite under their GovSat joint-venture.

So why are SES and the Government of Luxembourg launching such second satellite for GovSat? To understand that, we have to first look at what differentiates GovSat’s capabilities from traditional commercial geosynchronous (GEO) service offerings.

Purpose-built for government missions
The GovSat-1 GEO satellite leverages military payloads capable of delivering sensitive communications via dedicated military frequency bands. While government users often leverage traditional satellite services in commercial frequency bands for certain applications, GovSat-1 offers secure connectivity for more sensitive missions thanks to its Mil Ka- and X-band frequencies, as well as its reinforced security.

In addition, the company operates from a fully dedicated Secure Missions Operations Center, using hardened ground segment that ensures end-to-end security. This allows GovSat-1 to deliver a higher level of service assurance when and where defense users need, such as within Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as over the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Such military-grade communications have the benefit of also being more jam-resistant than usual GEO satellites. This is important, as the past several years have seen governments facing new and fast-evolving threats, making the need for secure services one of the most significant drivers for the development of GovSat-2.

Resilient secure services for NATO allies
Today, GovSat is an in-demand asset for NATO allies for their sensitive military operations, and the need for it has never been higher.

Bearing witness to the ongoing geographical tensions around the world has made many NATO nations in Europe concerned about new aggressions from possible adversaries. This is forcing many of these nations to bolster their own defense and work to ensure they have access to advanced capabilities and systems needed for their own national and overall shared security.

Modern warfighting relies on connectivity and communications. The proliferation of connected sensors and network-enabled military systems makes communications an essential part of coordinated, data-driven, multi-domain operations. Satellite plays an essential role in modern military networks – delivering secure communications and signals to locations where terrestrial networks are either unavailable, untrusted, or denied.

With GovSat-1 being the only commercially-operated satellite that uses military frequencies and that can securely deliver classified information and communications, there has been tremendous demand from across the NATO nations for the satellite’s capacity.

While NATO nations are clamoring for more GovSat capacity to scale, they’re also looking for more enhanced and sophisticated security features, as the threat environment is constantly evolving and adversaries are becoming increasingly capable. Furthermore, they are also looking for capacity in complementary frequency bands such as UHF (Ultra High Frequency).

The combination of these considerations and requirements led GovSat to commission the development of GovSat-2.

A new, even more capable GovSat satellite
Buit by Thales Alenia Space, GovSat-2 will encompass the most recent advancements in satellite and military technology, addressing the strongest requirements in terms of Service Assurance and Security.

GovSat-2 is also being developed with the latest digital processing capabilities on board – to help increase resilience against adversarial jamming, spoofing, and other electronic warfare capabilities. The same technology will also deliver enhanced flexibility, giving the satellite certain beam steering capabilities necessary to address specific jamming scenarios.

Finally, GovSat-2 will be built with the specific current needs of NATO allies in mind. This includes the addition of UHF for tactical communications for allied militaries.

As modern warfare becomes increasingly reliant on networks and communications, the need for a commercial satellite that is capable of securely and assuredly delivering military data increases exponentially. The commissioning of GovSat-2 will help meet this requirement for NATO nations while also enabling increased collaboration and mission coordination across countries – providing the network backbone needed for advanced missions and improving collective deterrence and defense around the globe.

To learn more about GovSat, click HERE.

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That might now seem like a particularly interesting or insightful thing to say. It could come off as simple pandering to a room full of satellite professionals. But it’s quite true and becoming increasingly obvious to even the casual observer. At a time when space exploration and advancements in space and satellite technology are no longer dominating the news or making headlines, we’ve quietly seen a huge resurgence in both interest and investment in space.

That interest isn’t just on behalf of the federal government, either. A new generation of satellites and new satellite technologies are opening the door for satellite to deliver the IT services that many with high speed broadband connections take for granted to every corner of the globe. Advances in technology and robotics are also creating smaller, cheaper satellites and even satellites that can service and refuel other satellites. All the while, the emergence of new companies in the commercial launch space is making access to space cheaper.

The industry is rapidly evolving, and that change is generating a lot of excitement across the government, military and the industry itself. We’re excited to document these changes and chronicle where the industry goes next.

Here are some of the most interesting satellite articles that we saw in the past few weeks, which prove that satellite is one of the busiest and most interesting industries today:

US Air Force to put sensors on allies’ satellites
Every government-focused satellite conference or event that we  attend eventually hits on the topic of mission assurance in space and defending our satellite infrastructure. It’s become an essential topic and major challenge for our military as adversaries have grown increasingly capable of denying satellite communications and capabilities, and our warfighters have grown ever more reliant on IT-enabled tools and services.

This article in Defense One discusses steps that our military is taking to help ensure mission assurance in space, and it’s something that we’ve discussed frequently in the past on the Government Satellite Report – hosted payloads.

We’ve speculated in the past that putting military payloads on other satellites – including commercial satellites – could make it harder for adversaries to target and deny satellite capabilities, and that’s exactly what the military is looking to do. However, instead of just using commercial satellites, they’re placing sensors on satellites belonging to our allies.

This is an exciting step that – if proven useful – could expand to the military placing sensors and transponders on commercial satellites with increased frequency in the future. The benefit would be an integrated satellite architecture of commercial, allied and military-owned satellites that would be almost impossible to fully compromise and that could very quickly fill military satellite requirements should a military satellite be denied.

ESA and SES-led consortium to develop satellite-based cybersecurity
The military has other concerns about the safety and security of satellites and satellite communications aside from the jamming of satellites or adversaries shooting them down. One of those concerns involves cybersecurity and satellite signals being intercepted or altered.

You could imagine the chaos and problems that could emerge for U.S. soldiers if they received inaccurate information via satellite from one of our adversaries, or if their locations or other sensitive information was intercepted. This is the reality that the military is looking to avoid.

Well, the European Space Agency (ESA) and a consortium of satellite providers and satellite technology companies are now teaming up in an effort to increase the security of satellites and satellite communications. The consortium, which is being led by satellite communications provider, SES, will seek to develop, “a system that will allow the generation of encryption keys from space, as well as their secure transmission to users on Earth via laser.”

The system has been named the Quantum Cryptography Telecommunication System (QUARTZ), and it is intended to be, “a new platform aimed at providing a global service for next-generation encryption keys for use in geographically dispersed networks. “

Defense Department turning over space traffic management to Commerce, but details still unclear
All of that excitement and new activity in space that we mentioned before comes with a price. There are 1,500 active satellites in orbit already, and there are new satellite companies out there proposing to launch constellations that will add thousands more across multiple orbits.

Every one of those new satellites creates a new challenge for the folks that work to ensure that satellites don’t hit each other and that traffic and congestion in space doesn’t result in the same kind of calamities as traffic and congestion on our roads and highways.

To this end, the DoD has announced that it will be turning over the management of space traffic to an unlikely new ally, the Department of Commerce. Details on the transition remain somewhat unclear and it’s not entirely known how and when the transition will be completed, but it’s a move that many in the industry are considering a positive step forward that will help encourage continued private investment in space.

As Doug Loverro, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy told SpaceNews. “The good news is that several years ago this same committee was clearly against DoD ever losing control of this vital function. So I would say that this represents true progress in moving this inherently civil function to a civil agency.”

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In his position with the Department of Defense (DoD), Mr. Kitay is responsible for establishing policy and guidance for the assurance of space capabilities for both our nation and our allies. He also helps guide DoD strategy for addressing space-related issues, and leads DoD activities in international space cooperation. Needless to say, Mr. Kitay is well positioned with his finger on the pulse of the Nation’s current and future space architecture, policy development and implementation and the associated national space and security implications.

The theme of Mr. Kitay’s address was, “A Strategy for Protecting and Advancing our Vital Interests in Space,” a theme that has been repeated frequently at many of the space conferences that we’ve attended in the past few years. But before breaking into the familiar messaging about the need to defend our nation’s space capabilities, Mr. Kitay discussed why right now is a very exciting time for satellites and space.

Government gives space its due
According to Mr. Kitay, the space and satellite field has, “an energy and excitement that is nothing short of remarkable.” As for the reasons why there is so much energy around space and satellites, Mr. Kitay chalked it up to two separate factors: technology advancements and attention from the very top of the government.

“We could spend an entire day talking about all of the technology changes that are happening directly within the space sector or outside of the space sector that are being applied to it,” Mr. Kitay explained. “Space is getting a lot of attention these days. Our most senior levels of government – from our President to Congress to the recently-instated National Space Council – are all focused on U.S. leadership in space across all sectors – National Security, Civil and Commercial.”

Mr. Kitay went on to explain that the attention being paid to space and satellites from the brass of the military and federal government wasn’t just talk, but had the added validity of additional investment and budget dollars. As Mr. Kitay explained, “From a DoD space perspective, the President’s budget included an additional $1B in this year’s budget request and an additional $8B over a five year planning period for space.”

But that attention, energy and interest in space and satellites isn’t just because there are new technologies being brought to bear in the industry. It has a lot to do with the changing space environment and the increased threats to our space infrastructure. This brings us to a very familiar topic in the industry.

Adversaries in space
Mr. Kitay did an excellent job of laying out the current challenge facing the DoD in space when he said, “While there are a multitude of friendly international activities and partnerships in space, there is also – unfortunately – a very serious scope and growing maturity of foreign counter-space capabilities. Hands-down, this is the most significant change in space from a DoD perspective. Because of these threats, space is not a sanctuary and we have now recognized space as a warfighting domain. As a result, we need to be prepared to treat it as such.“

This isn’t a new topic. Rather, it’s a topic that has dominated the military space and satellite conversation for what seems like years. However, there is a very good reason for the military to be taking this seriously, as warfighters have grown increasingly reliant on satellite services and IT tools that satellites enable. U.S. adversaries have grown increasingly capable of denying satellite capabilities to these warfighters.

Mr. Kitay laid out multiple different ways in which the DoD is looking to improve assurance, including, “through resilience, defensive operations, reconstitution and…even…satellite servicing.” But made it clear that attaining assurance was both essential and complex when he said, “We must assure our space capabilities so that we’re prepared to prevail in any environment and against any threat. Let me underscore that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to space mission assurance. Just as there are a variety of threats and a variety of missions to perform, we are going to need a variety of capabilities, tactics and techniques to achieve our mission.”

However, there is one way that mission assurance can be improved and according to Mr. Kitay, this gave for the increased excitement around satellites and space – new technology.

Commercial blazes a path to assurance
Taking advantage of innovation from the satellite industry is one way that the military can improve mission assurance quickly and effectively. Utilizing Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geostationary (GEO) HTS satellite constellations from commercial satellite providers that incorporate the latest in satellite technologies can mitigate the potential for adversaries to deny the military satellite capabilities in a number of ways.

First, these satellites are – by their nature – more difficult to jam, and jamming remains one of the easiest and most effective ways for adversaries to deny satellite capabilities. As Doug Loverro, Mr. Kitay’s predecessor as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, recently said, “Cyber attack against a variety of communications networks is a difficult challenge. But the far simpler thing that Russia can do. That North Korea can do. That Iran can do. That Botswana can do. That some guy in the middle of a field with a TV truck can do…is jamming. Jamming is very hard to protect against, unless you have the right equipment.”

But there is more to commercial services than simply protecting against jamming. They also provide other benefits by simply distributing and disaggregating military communications across multiple satellite constellations and providers – making it harder for adversaries to specifically target satellites carrying military signals, and even harder to deny them by compromising a single satellite.

As Mr. Kitay made abundantly clear, the threat of adversaries impacting our nation’s satellites remains the largest and most essential challenge for the DoD to overcome. Thankfully, new satellite technologies, led by the commercial industry, are doing more than drumming up excitement for space – they’re providing the Department of Defense with a clear and capable set of solutions able to effectively improve our National Security Space architecture.

MEO and HTS constellations are the latest commercial innovations being embraced by the federal government, capable of securely delivering fiber-like bandwidth to practically anywhere on the planet. For additional information on these solutions, download the following resources:

• High Throughput on the High Seas
• White Paper: Satellite Evolution Sparks a Service Revolution
• High Throughput Satellites for U.S. Government Applications
• White Paper On O3b “Fiber Like” Satellite Communications for U.S. Government Applications

The post AFA breakfast paints space as exciting but challenging domain for the DoD appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

When you consider the mission-critical services that military satellites provide – and the essential capabilities and communications they deliver to – it becomes abundantly clear why this topic dominates so many military space discussions.

Compromising or neutralizing a military satellite now means that Americans have to go without essential communications connectivity, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) data and mission-critical network applications and tools. These type of mission degradations would have immediate and negative impacts on lethality, and on the survivability of American troops.

Defending a Contested Space Domain

It comes as no surprise that defending satellites was once again the hot topic of discussion during a Defense One-organized, “Cocktails and Conversations,” event that was held just steps away from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center during one of the evenings of SATELLITE 2018 – one of the year’s largest satellite-focused conferences.

This event included a number of military satellite decision makers and thought leaders, each with incredible depth of experience and knowledge into the military’s satellite challenges and requirements. Present on the panel were:

• Douglas Loverro: President of Loverro Consulting, LLC and Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy
• Colonel George R. Nagy: Chief of the Space Support to Operations Division at the Pentagon
• Deanna Ryals: Chief of the International Programs Division within The MilSatCom Systems Directorate at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command
• Dr. Brian Weeden: Director of Program Planning at the Secure World Foundation

The conversation began with basic overviews about DoD satellite strategy and the ongoing wideband analysis of alternatives (AOA) before shifting to the topic of resiliency. As it turns out, resiliency and mission assurance aren’t new issues, which was well illustrated by this anecdote from Dr. Weeden, “I was looking at some documents from the end of the Ford Administration, they were worried about threats to U.S. space systems from a growing adversary counter-space problem and the fact that their systems were not designed to be able to defend themselves or be survivable in the face of an attack.”

That administration ended more than 40 years ago.

No simple solution for satellite resiliency

Although this is clearly an old challenge, there has yet to be a perfect solution implemented across the DoD – most likely because there is no one, simple solution. As Mr. Loverro elaborated, “You can’t just build a bunch of satellites and say you’re resilient. You can’t just go ahead and put armor on your satellite and say you’re resilient. You can’t just go ahead and say just use commercial, or do responsive launch and say you’re resilient.” Instead, he challenged the military to, “…look at your mission, look at your architecture and the tools available and think about what makes it difficult – if not impossible – for someone to take that apart.”

Ultimately, multiple panel participants agreed that it’s going to be a combination of disparate solutions – a “basket of solutions” as Mr.

Weeden referred to it – that can be combined to better protect military satellite infrastructures and architectures. That “basket of solutions” was further defined by Mr. Loverro when he said, “It’s going to be a combination of proliferation, disaggregation, diversity, distribution, protection, proliferation and deception. Those factors can combine for any space capability that we know about to make them resilient, and – quite frankly – it doesn’t cost a lot of money if you combine them correctly.”

Although the panel all agreed that resiliency in satellite networks was of paramount importance for the DoD, they did disagree when it came to identifying exactly which threat was the largest one facing military satellites. Two of the panelists were concerned about cyber attacks and cyber threats impacting military satellites. Mr. Loverro was more concerned about a somewhat less sophisticated, albeit equally effective, threat to satellites – jamming.

According to Mr. Loverro, “Cyber attack against a variety of communications networks is a difficult challenge. But the far simpler thing that Russia can do. That North Korea can do. That Iran can do. That Botswana can do. That some guy in the middle of a field with a TV truck can do…is jamming. Jamming is very hard to protect against, unless you have the right equipment.”

And that’s an area where commercial satellite can help.

Getting down to the jam

When making the decision about which orbit to place their military satellites will take, the DoD chose GEO because fewer satellites could provide coverage for much of the Earth’s surface. Fewer satellites meant less money. But, as Mr. Loverro noted, “What is good for economics isn’t good for the military.”

Jamming a satellite’s signal requires being within the satellite’s beam – or coverage area. This is much easier with GEO satellites, because their coverage areas are so large. By launching military satellites into GEO, the coverage the military wanted came at a lower price tag, but with an increased risk of jamming. As Mr. Loverro explained, “GEO was cheap to launch, but harder to defend.”

But there are commercial solutions that can help protect military communications from jamming.

Today’s commercially-available High Throughput Satellites (HTS) utilize steerable spot beams that provide incredible throughput, but cover smaller areas. Some of these satellites are currently operating in MEO orbits, meaning they combine high throughput with low latency, and are naturally more prolific and harder to jam. By embracing these commercial HTS and MEO satellite constellations, the military can essential get anti-jamming capabilities baked in.

Luckily, the door could be opening for an increased role for commercial partners in the military’s space architecture – making these HTS and MEO constellations more readily available for military users. As part of the wideband satellite AoA, the DoD is exploring new ways to approach the construction of their satellite architecture, and is looking seriously at a more integrated network of commercial and military-owned satellites.

By building a combined architecture that embraces a combination of purpose-built, military-owned satellites and commercial capabilities, the military can better take advantage of the innovative new solutions that commercial providers are bringing to market. Based on statements from Mrs. Ryals, that could very well be in the cards:

“There’s a big push to expand and increase our partnerships for resiliency and national defense – to build capabilities together. I think that expands not just to allied partners, but also commercial partners. With the amount of commercial capability that’s out there and available today, we have to find ways to change the way that we procure SATCOM capabilities. We have to look through the AoA and look at how we’re approaching that balance of military vs commercial. But we recognize that the commercial industry is one of our biggest partners that we have not yet tapped to help us build this architecture and build this infrastructure.”

By tapping this previously under-utilized resource, the military can better protect its satellite capabilities from jamming and ensure that the warfighter never has to go without essential services again.

MEO and HTS constellations are the latest commercial innovations being embraced by the federal government, capable of securely delivering fiber-like bandwidth to practically anywhere on the planet. For additional information of these solutions, download the following resources:

• High Throughput on the High Seas
• White Paper: Satellite Evolution Sparks a Service Revolution
• High Throughput Satellites for U.S. Government Applications
• White Paper On O3b “Fiber Like” Satellite Communications for U.S. Government Applications

The post Overcoming the largest threats to military satellites and increasing resiliency appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

Much like in previous years, SATELLITE 2018 also featured a government track, with a handful of government-focused panel discussions and keynote addresses about the current state of satellite across the federal government and United States military, and some of the ways satellite use and acquisition across the federal government is changing.

These government-focused sessions covered a wide range of topics from the use of satellite in emergency response to the evolution of on-orbit servicing. However, there was one common theme that ran across all of them – regardless of topic or speaker. That theme was “Change.”

The Recapitalization of Satellite Resources
Right now – in 2018 – we’re seeing the confluence of multiple trends in space and satellite that have the potential to redefine the industry, introduce immense new capability to the user, and revolutionize how the satellite industry and federal government partner to overcome communications and connectivity challenges.

However, that could potentially be squandered away should the industry and the government not take essential steps towards changing how they interact and do business.

This sentiment was echoed during a panel discussion featuring multiple industry executives and Norman Yarbrough, an Operations Research Analyst within the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for C3, Cyber, and Business Systems at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). During this panel discussion, which was entitled, “Adapting the Government-Commercial Satcom Relationship for the 21st Century,” the speakers each shared how the industry is at an interesting place with tremendous potential for change and exciting new partnerships between industry and the government.

Each of the industry panelists echoed the fact that the military is currently facing a recapitalization of their satellite resources – a result of multiple satellite constellations coming up on their end of life. They each discussed how a wideband analysis of alternatives (AoA) in the works within the United States Air Force which puts the military in a position to make several important satellite decisions.

Chief among these decisions is the role that commercial satellite services will play in military satellite infrastructures moving forward.

Looking to Industry for Innovation
The satellite industry has made it clear over the past few years that their services could and should become a larger part of the military’s satellite networks and infrastructures moving forward. Their reasoning is both clear and valid – industry is now the innovator in space, and a greater reliance on satellite communication providers could help the military overcome some of the largest satellite challenges that they’re currently facing – including a need to better secure and protect satellites and satellite communications, and a need to meet ever-increasing bandwidth demands and requirements.

The role of commercial satellite providers as innovators is ultimately a result of the requirements of their business and the speed at which they operate. While military satellite programs can take decades to plan, design, build and launch satellites, industry needs to move faster. New commercial satellites are being built and launched constantly, and this rhythm means that new satellite technologies will invariably be available onboard commercial satellites well before purpose-built government satellites.

This was further reflected in the comments from Mr. Yarbrough, who said, “We look to industry to be our mission partner. To provide the goods and services that we need to meet national security requirements. We look to them for the innovation of the future to help us better meet those needs.”

As the industry leaders on this panel noted, advancements in commercial satellites – including the launch of High Throughput Satellites (HTS) – and the introduction of new commercial satellite constellations at lower orbits – including MEO – means that higher bandwidth and lower latency connections to practically anywhere on the globe are becoming increasingly available.

At a time when the DoD is looking to establish a path forward with its satellite infrastructure – industry is evolving and bringing previously unheard-of capabilities to market. The stage seems set for industry and military to come together to bring these advanced capabilities to bear for the warfighter but concerns and challenges remain.

Improving the Mission While Providing Better Protection
Commercial satellites can also deliver benefits to the military in many ways. The proliferation and disaggregation of military satellite communications across multiple commercial satellites and networks – and across multiple orbits – can only help increase their resilience and assurance. Many of these satellites also feature built-in protections against attempts to disrupt them – including defenses against jamming.

This need for increased resilience and more assured communications was also reflected by Mr. Yarbrough, who claimed that, “I’m always going to come back to the warfighter. That’s what everything we want to do is about. We want to deliver them the benefits that we’re talking about…the ability to have assured communications…”

Enabling the warfighter is the ultimate focus for the DoD – ensuring that they have access to the solutions that they need, the tools they require to accomplish the mission and the services that are going to improve mission success – while improving their own survivability.

Both industry and government panelists agreed that increased testing, communication and information sharing will ease the way for increased collaboration into the future. Both sides also seemed confident that many of these challenges can be overcome, and that a new generation of warfighter will soon go into battle with a new generation of IT enabled devices, connected via the most advanced satellite communications services.

If there was one overarching theme at SATELLITE 2018, it was change. A shift and evolution in how the military approaches satellite seems imminent, and the role of COMSATCOM providers in military networks seems poised to increase.

MEO and HTS constellations are the latest commercial innovations being embraced by the federal government, capable of delivering fiber-like bandwidth to practically anywhere on the planet. For additional information of these solutions, download the following resources:

• High Throughput on the High Seas
• White Paper: Satellite Evolution Sparks a Service Revolution
• High Throughput Satellites for U.S. Government Applications
• White Paper On O3b “Fiber Like” Satellite Communications for U.S. Government Applications

The post SATELLITE 2018 provides window to satellite industry and government at a time of transition appeared first on SES Space and Defense.