With no current government manned space programs and heavy reliance on industry to meet space and satellite needs, the landscape in the U.S. today is changing with regard to how satellite communications are provided. As competition heats up in industry, particularly outside of the U.S., private companies are looking to the government for a framework of requirements for where satcom is headed next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Industry’s search for guidance comes as the Defense Department grapples with challenges to its space and satcom programs, including aging hardware and systems as well as resiliency needs and evolving security concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said as much in a September internal memo outlining the findings of a Space Strategic Portfolio Review that revealed space’s role as a war domain, not a sanctuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The [review’s] unifying theme was the department needed to pursue better understanding and integration of space threats and capabilities into its warfighting plans and operations and avoid any actions that created a space ‘stovepipe,'” Work wrote. “This theme drove multiple changes in areas of space operations, programming, capabilities and governance.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An experimental operational platform, a call to increase visibility in investments, a demand for faster acquisition and an overhaul in how space programs are governed are all key parts of the space memo. The memo also creates a new principal DoD space adviser\u00a0and increases the role of key agencies including the Defense Information Systems Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in the private sector, where the actual launches and satcom services are happening, executives are trying to get a collective handle on what the government needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What the government has to do is determine what goes to their inherent capabilities \u2014\u00a0which is really just DoD’s Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) system \u2014 and what is not able to be satisfied on their systems,” said Jeff Rowlison, vice president for government affairs at SES Government Solutions. “And that’s where our industry, and SES-GS specifically, have made a robust name for ourselves. We’re able to quickly, and in an innovative, more cost-effective manner, satisfy those requirements.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And satisfying those requirements is critical: Without commercial satcom and space capabilities, many of the military’s missions and operations can’t happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You have to view commercial satcom as vital national security infrastructure, and we view our capabilities as a national security enabler,” Rowlinson said. “Without it, the U.S. can’t do its missions on a worldwide scale. We can’t operate UAVs\u00a0or provide disaster response or humanitarian aid\u00a0or enable [theater] communications. None of it is possible without commercially enabled satcom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n