[Satellite News 04-08-09] As part of a restructuring of U.S. defense spending in the 2010 U.S. federal budget, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended the termination of the U.S. Air Force’s $26 billion Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program, the White House announced April 6.
    According to a transcript of Gates’ statement on the White House Web site, high costs, technological risk and development delays were cited as primary reasons for the program’s cancellation.
    For some analysts and industry insiders, the end of the TSAT program comes as no surprise. A November report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), predicted TSAT would be cut. “While the Air Force has invested $2 billion in TSAT, cost overruns and schedule slips have plagued the program, and it is low on a list of priorities, just as tight budget times loom,” the report said.
    At the time of the report’s release, CSIS also said that the Obama administration would be “unlikely to produce the spare change to support a $10 billion space project.”
Throughout the past year, optimism in TSAT’s viability was clearly shaken. Before the announcement by Gates, John Edwards, a senior aerospace and defense analyst for international military markets at Forecast International told Satellite News that while the United States is still the big power in terms of military satellite communications, some U.S. military satellite communications projects were highlighted to see the axe.
    “I expect that military space programs like WGS (Wideband Global Satcom), MUOS (Mobile User Objective System) and AEHF (Advanced Extremely High Frequency) are safe. TSAT could be in for trouble, as could certain space control programs. How this ripples out to the rest of the world remains to be seen. Certainly, component manufacturers could take a hit, but I don’t think there is going to be a sea change in the military space spending arena,” said Edwards.
    According to a report by Reuters, TSAT’s complete elimination was not always considered. Gary Payton, U.S. deputy undersecretary for space, said that early versions of the U.S. fiscal 2010 budget proposal included plans to accommodate a pared-down version of the program. But in a speech delivered at the 2009 National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., Payton said the deepening economic recession had rendered the future of TSAT uncertain, according to the report.
    Gates’ ability to cut the program came after the Pentagon delayed the TSAT contract award from December to the 2010 fiscal year. Teams led by Lockheed Martin and Boeing were in competition for its primary contract. Neither company could be immediately reached for comment.
    The final decision on TSAT will be made soon by a U.S. Congress defense committee, the White House said.