[Satellite News 11-09-09] After the cancellation of the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) program earlier this year, both U.S. military officials and commercial satellite companies realized that military satellite plans would have to be radically altered.
    U.S. military speakers at the Global MilSatCom conference in London said it was a key time in terms of shaping U.S. military strategies going forward. U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Larry James, Commander of thr Air Force Space Command, said that key decisions would be made relatively soon in terms of shaping U.S. military strategy post TSAT. “Where are we going in the future? We are in the midst of trying to define what those requirements are.   We are trying to do a bandwidth assessment and understanding what the needs we have. We are involving all the agencies and combatants. That should wrap up next year. We need to find those requirements. We need to look at platform capability in terms of hardware procurement. TSAT was cancelled. The question is where do we go from TSAT. We are looking at what technologies we should harvest out of the TSAT program,” said James.
    Richard Skinner, vice president of strategic planning for Lockheed Martin Space Systems said that he expected parts of the TSAT program to be resurrected. “I think there will be a resurrection in terms of TSAT. I think some of the technologies developed on TSAT will be used elsewhere. We found the TSAT satellites were very cost effective, much less expensive than AEHF and MilStar. However, the sheer cost of the program was mouthwatering. The reality is that TSAT could support tens of thousands of terminals. While the program was very efficient, the investment was just too high,” he said.
    Skinner believes that some of the program’s work in the area of laser communications could bear fruit. “Part of the TSAT technology suite was connecting high flying aircraft with laser communication links. The technology is there. There are big advantages. A laser communications terminal is very efficient. I think where we are at with laser communications, the main challenges are making it able to manufactured and produced and at some of sort of competitive price point. The price points of the terminals have been pretty mouthwatering,” said Skinner.
     With all nations looking to reduce costs in economic times, creative solutions may well need to be found to provide next generation military space capabilities. James hinted at an ever-increasing alliance with commercial satellite players. “We are looking at the layered approach (ground, air, space). 78 percent of our capability is provided by commercial bandwidth. We need to work out how protected that bandwidth will be. We are talking to the industry in terms of things like protective capabilities. Bandwidth assessment, platforms, and how the commercial industry will support that, are the three key things for which we want to wrap up next year,” he said.
James admitted that the hosted payload option is one that the U.S. military will look at more and more. “Many commercial providers have offered the opportunity to host payloads. It is a different dynamic today than 10 years ago. Now, the industry is offering that up. We have a lot activity. One of the challenges to integrate land, air and space. Satcom will not solve everything,” said James.
    U.S. Army Col. Patrick Rayermann of the U.S. National Security Space Office, said that the decision to end the TSAT program and start harvesting the technologies developed by TSAT has given the military an opportunity to take another look at its plans. “The last time we really looked from a ground breaking perspective, was about a decade ago. The technology has changed. There was no such thing as the iPhone 10 years ago. So, we now have an opportunity to see whether there are different ways of doing things with the technology, which has matured over the last decade. Are there some new ways to put together an architecture, and are their ways to do that, where we can work with commercial solution sets?,” said Ryermann.
    New solutions are potentially being sought. “We are working with a goal to define a new architectural solution approach, and a new mix of solution sets. We are striving to define that, and articulate that to the President, industry, the public, by the beginning of next Summer so that we can start to bring those solutions to submission,” said Rayermann.
    In terms of whether the U.S. would go down the hosted payload route, Rayermann thinks there is an increasing recognition that the hosting concept, where the military doesn’t have to build, fly and operate an entire spacecraft, has been recognized. “There are clear benefits to it. But, you have to identify clear hosting opportunities and the appropriate acquisition and negotiation process, so you can time availability of the hosted payload and hosting spacecraft, so they can be married up and mated according to the schedule,” he said.
     However, according to Rayermann, going to down this route may need a cultural change. “Getting us (the US military) to become comfortable with an alternative solution is more difficult. It does not mean it won’t come to that, but right now, the TSAT decision, and other decisions in our department, and the current economic environment have reminded all of us that affordability does matter. Ultimately, no-one has infinite sums of money, and every government has multiple responsibilities,” he said.