[Satellite News 12-16-10] Attitudes towards U.S. defense spending and budget management are changing as new economic realities compel the U.S. government to get the most value for money for its military satcom strategy.

Acting on behalf of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, Air Force Brig. Gen. Ian Dickinson is the designated approval authority for the Air Force’s $10 billion space mission system portfolio and responsible for organizing, training and equipping space and cyber forces with communications and information capability. With ongoing debates about how the U.S. military should work with the commercial sector going forward, Dickinson told Satellite News that the U.S. military is at a crossroads as it looks to define its strategy in the ever-shifting landscape. 

Satellite News: How do you view the potential for expanded collaboration between the commercial satellite industry and the U.S. Department of Defense? 

Dickinson: The potential for collaboration with commercial industry is extremely positive for the Pentagon. We’ve significantly increased our level of commercial satcom industry collaboration as we prepare to assess alternative concepts for meeting future national security needs. 

    Our collaboration includes multiple pending contract awards through the SMC-32 Broad Agency Announcement to consider Commercial Architecture Options with the purpose of better defining opportunities and introducing commercial satcom capabilities into the future milsatcom strategy. As a result of this continuing collaboration, commercial satellite providers may offer a range of options, such as government-provided hosted payloads and purpose-built satellites tailored for military missions. The level to which these alternatives can be exploited beyond current lease arrangements will be a function of a compelling business case. The business case will be predicated on the context of global requirements, scenarios and other milsatcom enterprise factors. Chief among the other enterprise factors is interoperability with existing and planned U.S. Department of Defense infrastructure, which represents a significant investment. The greatest potential benefit of commercial satcom endeavors would be to procure capabilities and services that enhance user terminal and network synchronization.

Satellite News: What are the biggest differences between the U.S. military’s current strategy and what was in place two years ago?

Dickinson: Recently, U.S. Defense Secretary [Robert] Gates directed the entire Department of Defense to pursue wide-ranging efficiencies to reflect our fiscal reality. It’s reasonable to expect, however, that increased efficiency in the utilization of our people and equipment may put even greater demands on communications systems. As our primary means to extend communications to highly mobile warfighters, I see satcom systems supporting our efficiency objectives in two ways, most importantly as a multiplier of mission effectiveness and, quite possibly, as a potential source of direct cost savings.  

    Since the Pentagon cancelled the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) program in 2009, the Department of Defense has revised its milsatcom requirements and is very close to embarking on a materiel solution analysis to assess the full range of options for meeting future national security requirements. I think this is well timed, in light of our new goals. 

    The past milsatcom strategy was dependent on one or two major military acquisition programs and leasing commercial satcom — often through the spot market. The largest differences with our future strategy will likely emphasize on space platform diversity, a balanced commercial/military mix and acquisition approaches that focus on affordability and time-certain delivery. To facilitate this strategy, the Air Force is embarking on a series of commercial satcom studies and product assessments to determine what solutions offer compelling business cases to meet recently redefined satcom requirements. Eventually, we see a variety of military and commercial acquisition programs leading to evolved milsatcom systems currently in production, tailored commercial satcom systems in the military radio frequency spectrum, and more cost effective satcom leases as the means to satisfy future needs.

Satellite News: Does satellite connectivity provide a better transition to next-generation communications capabilities? 

Dickinson: The current milsatcom focus is on capabilities that support customers across benign, contested and nuclear operational environments. Satellites offer unique capabilities to meet continuing and evolving needs in these areas. Our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen continue to see challenges with terrestrial, space and aerial layer product integration. Proprietary products and the challenge of the implications for network-to-network interface and integration continue to complicate product use. Related efforts to reduce the costs for space-based services will continue to put pressure on terrestrial-based alternatives to offer more affordable terminals and network support along with more responsive, integration-ready network management and Internet Protocol interconnected services. 

Satellite News: How is the U.S. military adapting its technology strategy to the rapid pace of developments in commercial satellite?

Dickinson: How we acquire satcom systems will be just as important as what capabilities we procure. Today, acquisitions of military space systems do not keep pace with technology advances by the time a full constellation of satellites is launched and all user terminals are fielded. Future space acquisitions must accommodate quicker fielding timelines and allow for technology insertion. Commercial satcom systems have demonstrated the ability to field on shorter timelines while block buys of military satellites provide pre-planned opportunities to enhance capabilities in lieu of a brand new program.

    On our end, the Pentagon is currently conducting an analysis of alternatives for a complementary Joint Airborne Layer Network to enhance both space-based networks and ground-based networks. While these new technologies can offer enhanced capacity, backwards compatibility considerations with legacy systems and ease of network integration continue to be significant challenges with the introduction of new systems.   

Increasing numbers of RPAs (remotely piloted aircraft) requiring high-data-rate sensor relays, along with recent innovations in distributed applications such as locally networked capabilities will continue to put upward pressure on needed bandwidth services. Enhanced commercial satcom and terrestrial communication systems can help support those requirements. Technology enhancements include more directional antennas, military frequency use, enhanced situational awareness and information assurance.

Satellite News: How do you see the military’s unmanned aerial vehicle strategy developing? 

Dickinson: To meet the large data transfer needs of sensors aboard RPAs, we are currently assessing alternatives to migrate the airborne terminals on the Global Hawk aircraft from commercial Ku-band satcom links to military Ka-band. Once migrated to military Ka-band, today’s long-track airborne ISR platforms such as Global Hawk will pose a particular challenge for wideband space systems to simultaneously satisfy all satcom needs for maritime and ground forces while maintaining a dedicated beam on individual RPAs. Therefore, as part of the future milsatcom strategy, we also will need to consider the space segment options to accommodate the growing number of RPAs which require satcom for command and control as well as sensor data relay.  

Satellite News: What new capabilities do the recently launched WGS and AEHF satellites provide to the U.S. military? 

Dickinson: Both WGS and Advanced EHF systems offer an order-of-magnitude increase in capacities over the systems they replace. Wideband also offers significantly enhanced military Ka-band services along with cross-banded X-band services that significantly ease networking planning. We are seeing aggressive adoptions of these products as the WGS constellation is populated. AEHF also offers significantly increased protected channel capacities to our strategic and tactical forces. The recently improved initial capabilities document for the Joint Space Communications Layer identifies a continual upward trend as new systems and bandwidth-dependent applications enter our inventory.

Satellite News: Will there be any major changes on the military/commercial landscape over the next year?

Dickinson: No major changes in current systems are expected in advance of assessing the potential material solutions. The only major trend to note is the degree to which the Pentagon will consider commercial satcom opportunities as a complementary means to satisfy future requirements.