The U.S. Space Force is requesting $24.5 billion from Congress for its fiscal year 2023 operating budget, most of which is an ask for $15.8 billion for research, development, test and evaluation efforts, given the need to modernize and protect U.S. military space-based assets. The Space Force provides space-based capabilities in support of the Air Force’s core missions of command and control, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, amongst other efforts.
SATCOM
Bascom Hunter Technologies Inc., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is awarded an $8,388,144 modification to add new work to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00039-19-C-0020) issued by Naval Information Warfare Systems Command. This modification increases the value of the basic contract by $8,388,144. The new total value is $13,240,879.73. This modification provides for the addition of a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract line item for additional satellite communication pre-planned product improvement efforts in support of the Navy’s multiband terminal program.
L3Harris Technologies Inc., Palm Bay, Florida, is awarded an $18,480,237 modification to exercise priced options to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00039-14-C-0041 issued by the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command. This modification increases the value of the basic contract by $18,480,237; the new total value is $79,446,404. This modification provides for the exercise of firm-fixed-price options for Commercial Broadband Satellite Program Unit Level Variant (ULV) hardware production units. ULV provides terminal-to-shore, space and terrestrial connectivity to significantly increase throughput for commercial satellite communications and provide redundancy for military satellite communications.
Technological leaps in ground station capabilities will enable the U.S. Army to use new Internet of Things satellite constellations to boost combat communications. Innovative capabilities offer lower latency, higher throughput and greater network resilience with ease of use.
Recent Army experiments, including the Network Modernization Experiment and Project Convergence, have included a range of technologies for enhancing and protecting satellite communications (SATCOM). The capabilities will support the service’s modernization goals such a more resilient network, long-range precision fires, and air and missile defense.
Technological leaps in ground station capabilities, such as interference cancellation, band diversity and phased array antennas, will allow the U.S. Army to use new Internet of Things satellite constellations to boost combat communications. New technologies offer lower latency, higher throughput and greater network resilience while being easier for soldiers to use.
Recent Army experiments, including the Network Modernization Experiment (NetModX) and Project Convergence, have included a range of technologies for enhancing and protecting satellite communications (SATCOM). The technologies will support Army modernization goals, including a more resilient network, long-range precision fires and air and missile defense.
On October 14 the U.S. Army released a request for information to industry about how commercially-managed satellite communication (SATCOM) services could support the service’s logistics network modernization efforts in constructing a Sustainment Tactical Network, also known as the STN.
The STN, meant for general purpose users, will include new baseband, local transport and antenna hardware solutions. In addition, STN systems will provide the network connectivity for sustainment, medical and administrative information to be exchanged on the battlefield across multiple echelons, according to a statement from the U.S. Army’s Program Execute Office Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T).
GATR Technologies, Huntsville, Alabama, a subsidiary of Cubic Corp., was awarded a $172,000,000 maximum ceiling, single-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality, firm-fixed-price contract (H92401-20-D-0003) with five one-year ordering periods for the procurement of 1.2 meter and 2.4 meter Ground Antenna Transmit and Receive (GATR) inflatable satellite communications terminals and ancillary equipment in support of U.S.
The next era of satellite communications is upon us in the form of low-earth-orbit constellations aiming to revolutionize personal connectivity, according to satellite experts. These new satellite swarms are being driven by technology innovations simultaneously with the growth of less-expensive launch services. The result will be an explosion in the number and type of orbiters serving their earthbound hosts while raising the bar for support technologies on the ground.
The Space Force has announced that the planned satellite hacking challenge known as Space Security Challenge 2020: Hack-A-Sat would proceed as planned, but in a virtual format due to the pandemic. The Department of the Air Force and the Defense Digital Service's (DDS's) event includes an online qualification event May 22-24, followed by a final August 7-9. During the final, participants will attempt to reverse-engineer representative ground-based and on-orbit satellite system components to overcome planted “flags” or software code.
By December 31, seven contractors working with the Air Force will deliver critical pieces of the Defense Department’s new satellite communications architecture. The architecture is designed to deliver greater agility, resilience and situational awareness.
Concerns are growing about warfighters’ ability to communicate mission-critical information beyond line-of-sight in conflicts with peer and near-peer adversaries. Just in time, a new generation of highly capable high frequency radios is emerging as a viable solution when satellite communications are denied or unavailable. Fourth-generation wideband high frequency radios can satisfy military needs with the century-old wireless technology that is experiencing a resurgence of interest from warfighters worldwide.
CACI Inc. - Federal, Chantilly, Virginia, is awarded $180,336,750 for a single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, performance based, cost-plus-fixed-fee, level-of-effort contract (N65236-20-D-8003) to provide special operations communications systems, satellite communications (SATCOM) and network support services. Work will be performed in Fayetteville, North Carolina (65%); continental U.S. (20%); outside continental U.S. (10%); and Tampa, Florida (5%).
As cyber threats continue to grow, so does the reality that digital satellite communications can be degraded and denied either through digital or electromagnetic means. If these capabilities are compromised, however, high frequency radio provides a means to continue communicating even beyond the line of sight by leveraging the ionosphere to refract radio signals back to earth.
The International Communication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector designates the high frequency (HF) range as between 3 megahertz and 30 megahertz. While this method of communication was utilized extensively up through the 1990s, it began to lose traction in the military when the availability of satellite communications (SATCOM) increased.
CACI National Security Solutions Inc. (CACI), Reston, Virginia, is awarded a modification to a previously awarded (N65236-16-D-8011) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee performance based contract. Thes single award contract (SAC) is currently in its fourth year with a contract expiration date of September 14, 2020. This modification increases the basic contract estimated ceiling by $21,678,272 and changes the cumulative estimated value of the contract from $104,541,625 to $126,219,897. This SAC is for Special Operations Communications Systems Satellite Communications and Network Support Services in support of U.S.
The Army awarded Atlanta-based Envistacom a $47.8 million, three-year contract in support of the service's Deployable Ku-Band Earth Terminal (DKET) program. The company will assist the Army’s Product Manager Satellite Communications (PdM SATCOM). The tasking comes as part of the Deployable Adaptive Global Responder Support indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract that has a ceiling of $480 million over five years. The company will provide installation, training, relocation, integration, and upgrades for new, legacy and existing DKETs, DKET LT - the so-called Lite version - and mobile DKET, known as MKET. PdM SATCOM is responsible for the Army's tactical multi-channel satellite ground and commercial terminal programs.
Carlsbad, California-based Viasat upgraded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) ultra high frequency (UHF) satellite communications (SATCOM) control stations to comply with the new integrated waveform baseline. The upgrade will provide NATO with improved interoperability, scalability and flexibility across legacy and next-generation platforms, according to the company.
IAP Worldwide Services Inc., Cape Canaveral, Florida, was awarded a $16,289,540 hybrid (cost-no-fee, firm-fixed-price and time-and-materials) contract for satellite communication support. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of January 21, 2025. Fiscal year 2019 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $16,289,540 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-19-C-0034).
The U.S. Marine Corps recently began using a next-generation narrowband satellite communication system called the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) to help warfighters in connecting to networks on the battlefield and communicate in a tactical environment.
MUOS works by using antennas that let Marines access SATCOM networks while also providing them with secure and nonsecure internet access. The system applies to both mobile or stationary marines and was fielded in the first quarter of 2019. It includes updated firmware to the AN/PRC-117G radio system and one of three antenna kits.
The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded $93,632,264 for cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order N0001919F2963 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-16-G-0001). The order provides for the manufacture, test, installation, integration, and qualification of up to eight Wideband Satellite Communication kits in the P-8A Poseidon aircraft for the Navy. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (83 percent); Patuxent River, Maryland (15 percent); and St. Louis, Missouri (2 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2024.
Historically, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has been the driver of technological innovation, inventing remarkable capabilities to empower warfighter mission effectiveness and improve warfighter safety. Yet over the past 25 years, a transformational shift has taken place in several key technology sectors, and technology leadership in these sectors is no longer being driven by the military, but rather by the private sector.
The impact of world events on military operators in the field have made missions exponentially more demanding, and in tandem, the very simple concept of connectivity has transformed into a complex and challenging task. As new events occur around the globe, military and government users in remote and often hostile environments require instant and reliable connectivity empowered by robust intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor data. Resilient and secure satellite communications capabilities warfighters rely on also must be accessible at a moment’s notice.
The world is on the verge of a space-based global mesh network that could provide full-motion video of the entire planet, and that could pose problems for the military.
The U.S. Navy announced today that U.S. Strategic Command has approved the service’s next-generation narrowband satellite communication system for expanded operational use. The authorization paves the way for Navy and Marine Corps “early-adopter” commands to use the system on deployment as early as this fall, primarily in the Pacific theater, according to the written announcement. The Navy's on-orbit, five-satellite constellation—the Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS—began providing legacy satellite communications shortly after the system’s first satellite launch in 2012.
With the development and fielding of satellite communications throughout the U.S. military, today’s warfighters rarely use high frequency communications within and between units. International events have increased interest in high frequency communications as an alternative to connecting via satellites on current and future battlefields. U.S. military units already own a large amount of the radio equipment suitable for employment at various levels of the battlefield and for humanitarian relief as a redundant means of beyond-line-of-sight communications.
More than 2,000 miles away from the path of devastation cut by hurricanes Irma and Maria, network engineers at the Rock Island Arsenal Integrated Network Operations Center (INOC) work around-the-clock to support the relief efforts of American aid workers in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Operated by the Army’s product lead for Defense-Wide Transmission Systems, the INOC establishes and supports satellite (SATCOM) communications links for a wide range of missions.
UltiSat, Incorporated of Gaithersburg, Maryland was awarded a 5-year master services agreement (MSA) to provide satellite communications products and services for a global humanitarian non-governmental organization (NGO) with operations in the Middle East. Under this MSA, UltiSat will provide very small aperture terminal (VSAT) equipment, training and managed network services to the organization’s field offices across the Middle East. “UltiSat is pleased to support the missions of this global NGO with important operations in the Middle East,” said Brum Cerzosimo, UltiSat’s Senior Director of Global Accounts. “UltiSat brings years of experience and expertise working in this region in support of humanitarian missions.
Mnemonics Incorporated of Melbourne, Florida, is being awarded a $10,043,841 cost-plus-fixed fee completion contract for the final phase of research and development services for Satellite, Avionics and Communications Systems. The total cumulative face value of this contract including all options, is $49,615 252. Work will be performed at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, and work is expected to be completed October 31, 2018. If all options are exercised, work will continue through November 30, 2022. Fiscal 2018 Navy working capital funds in the amount of $150,000 will be obligated at the time of award. No funds will expire at end of current fiscal year. This contract was procured on the basis other than f
As the U.S. Defense Department goes full force into managing its terrestrial digital infrastructure of interconnected systems, it faces an additional challenge: connecting the moving dots involving space-based networks. Military satellite users want commercial service providers to develop more resilient and flexible communication networks based on open architectures to streamline shifts between military and commercial resources.
During the final days of November, managers for the Joint Telemedicine Network (JTMN) powered down the central teleport facility in Landstuhl, Germany, officially closing the network that had provided a dedicated worldwide satellite communication (SATCOM) network to U.S. Army medical personnel treating wounded soldiers at field hospitals and forward operating bases in combat zones.
U.S. Army satellite ground stations are getting a much-needed total makeover—considering that several hail from the same era as the Vietnam War, the Kennedy presidency and the space race.
Their high-tech moniker—Satellite Earth Terminal Stations, or SETS—belies the actual nature of these facilities. The structures appear to more closely resemble corrugated steel warehouses for auto parts than suitable environments for cutting-edge satellite communications (SATCOM) equipment. During the 1960s, digital SATCOM was hardly a twinkle in the eye of technologists. SATCOM speed, volume and complexity would increase by many orders of magnitude over the next five decades.
Advances in a plethora of military communication and situational awareness platforms have created unintended repercussions for the U.S. Navy, from the “forest of antennas” that can consume a ship’s deck to the debilitating effects of radio interference that clog airwaves and impede critical links to vessels, aircraft, drones and even satellites. Navy engineers are toiling on a handful of projects to ensure effective and secure communication links, which are so fundamental to military operations.
The U.S. Navy’s investment in its own fleet of high-altitude, long-range unmanned aerial systems called Tritons marks a detour from the military’s longtime use of satellite technology to connect its arsenal of big platforms such as Global Hawks and Predators.
As the U.S. Army brings even more advanced information technologies into the force, the service also strives to simplify training and use of these highly capable tools. Making increasingly complex systems simpler to operate now is a core function of the office tasked with designing, fielding and maintaining command, control and communications in the warfighting realm.
Raytheon Co. Space and Airborne Systems, Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $39,951,691 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (FA8808-16-C-0006) for protected tactical service field demonstration (PTSFD). PTSFD will demonstrate the ability to provide wideband anti-jam communications to tactical users using the Wideband Global Satellite Communications (SATCOM) constellation and commercial SATCOM. Work will be performed in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed by September 30, 2020.
In its enduring space race to narrow the materializing gap between the United States and peer competitors, the Air Force’s fiscal year 2017 budget emphasizes sustaining mission capabilities and improving space resilience by investing in command and control programs, situational awareness technologies, expendable launch systems and satellite communications.
Growing threats to national security in the space domain have prompted U.S. Air Force leaders to revamp plans and programs to adapt to a new reality of reinforcing system and network resiliency and shifting its people and resources to focus on warfighting functions. Government space capabilities, augmented by commercial systems, will play critical and active roles to secure U.S. and allied interests in and through the increasingly contested domain of space, requiring the Air Force and the Defense Department to proactively plan how to enable more coordinated and integrated space enterprise operations.
The Defense Department has reached a turning point in satellite communications (SATCOM) acquisition and deployment. On one hand, it is transitioning SATCOM from narrowband to wideband to keep up with ever-accumulating voice, video and data consumption. On the other, the budget forecast for the foreseeable future does not cover the replacement or addition of military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) systems, except for those within existing programs of record.
The U.S. Army is evolving and positioning its fleet of ground satellite communications terminals to ensure that units can successfully respond to multiple military or humanitarian contingencies anywhere in the world. Both commercial and military satellites are giving the Army greater flexibility in networking links and in the missions that can be conducted with network connectivity.
L-3 Communications announced today that it has been awarded an $81.8 million contract from Raytheon Australia to supply the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with 236 Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), additional support equipment and training as part of Joint Project 2008 Phase 5B1. This program will further enable the ADF to utilize the Wideband Global Satellite Communications system, significantly increasing its satellite communications capabilities. Two L-3 business units, Global Communications Solutions (GCS) and Linkabit, will perform on this contract, with hardware deliveries expected to be completed this year.
DataPath Inc., Duluth, Georgia, has been awarded a $6,791,930 firm-fixed-price contract. The contractor will provide five Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals with related equipment and training for the Danish Air Force and 29 WGS SATCOM terminals with related equipment and training for the Danish Army. Work will be performed in Duluth, Georgia, and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2016. This contract is 100 percent foreign military sales. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8730-15-C-0024).
Harris Corporation, Palm Bay, Florida, was awarded a $9,946,851 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research of distributed embedded satellite communications on-the-move terminals. Work will be performed in Palm Bay, Florida (50 percent); Boulder, Colorado (25.20 percent); Torrance, California (23.40 percent); and Aberdeen, Maryland (1.40 percent), with an estimated completion date of March 30, 2015. Bids were solicited via the Internet, with two received. Fiscal 2014 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $6,700,000, and fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $912,021, are being obligated at the time of the award.
L-3 Communications Corp., Communication Systems West, Salt Lake City, Utah, has been awarded a $17,919,946 delivery order (0003) on an existing firm-fixed-price and cost-reimbursable contract (FA8620-13-G-4051) for supply of Satellite Communications Terminals, Test and Monitor Sub-Systems, Satellite Earth Terminal Sub-Systems (SETTS) Site Monitor and Radomes for the United States, United Kingdom and France. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Medium Altitude Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
General Dynamics, SATCOM Technologies Inc., Duluth, Ga., is being awarded a $15,093,132 fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to produce and deliver up to 80 each Ku-Band terminals, Ka-Band conversion kits and X-Band conversion kits for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Special Communications Requirements Division (SCRD). The SCRD has been tasked by the National Guard Bureau (NGB) to install, test and evaluate the satellite communications on the move technologies in support of the NGB's advanced liaison response vehicle. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., is the contracting activity (N68335-13-D-0032).
Harris Corp., Palm Bay, Fla. is being awarded a $9,370,956 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed price contract for AN/WSC-6 E(V)9 satellite communication (SATCOM) systems. The AN/WSC-6 E(V)9 system is used by surface ships to provide a military SATCOM capability in the super high frequency range. This contract includes options, which if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to an estimated $40,515,414. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, is the contracting activity.
Linquest Corp., Los Angeles, Calif., is being awarded a $7,002,010 firm-fixed-price contract modification contract for military satellite communication system engineering and integration services. The contracting activity is Space and Missile Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.
The Commonwealth of Australia Department of Defence (ADF) has selected ViaSat Incorporated, Carlsbad, California, to supply the Ultra High Frequency Satellite Communication (Satcom) Mission System for its recently-launched UHF capacity on Intelsat IS-22. The system is designed to provide voice and data military satcom covering a region from the west coast of Africa to the east coast of Australia. The value of the award to ViaSat is approximately $35 million.
Globecomm Systems Incorporated, Hauppauge, New York; DRS Technical Services Incorporated, Herndon, Virginia; and L- 3/3Di Technologies Limited Liability Corporation, Hanover, Maryland, are each being awarded an indefinite- delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price, multiple award contract, with a cumulative value of $17,001,463 to provide commercial-off-the-shelf satellite network and communications equipment and other services. Each contractor will be awarded $8,333 at the time of award. These contracts include options, which, if exercised, could bring the combined cumulative value of these multiple award contracts to an estimated $85,007,313.
L-3 Communications, New York, New York, recently announced that its L-3 GCS subsidiary has been awarded a contract by US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to develop and manufacture Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite systems. The program, "Special Operations Forces Deployable Node-Family of Terminals" (SDN-Lite FoT) will provide tactically deployed Special Operations Forces users with worldwide communications connectivity. Total contract value is up to $500 million, over the next five years.
Harris Corporation, Government Communications Systems Division, Palm Bay, Florida, was awarded a $47,050,513 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the sustainment and support services for the AN/GSC-52 modernization program's family of satellite communications earth terminals and associated equipment. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Alexandria, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
ADCI of Delaware LLC, Chevy Chase, Maryland; AOS Incorporated, Dallas, Texas; CapRock Government Solutions, Incorporated Fairfax, Virginia; Global Communication Solutions Incorporated, Victor, New York; and O'Gara Satellite Systems Incorporated, Rancho Palos Verdes, California, were awarded multiple award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a not-to-exceed ceiling of $65,750,000 to provide Inmarsat mobile satellite services for the Department of Defense combatant commands, services, and agencies, and as well as other federal agencies.