Over the next 10 years, the U.S. Department of Defense could spend as much as $1 billion to piggyback its communications onto hosted payloads featured on commercial satellites. The U.S. Air Force confirmed these potential plans in early May, which includes seeking companies for contract bids as early as September. Boeing hopes to be a strong competitor in the bidding war. The company manufactured FSS operator Intelsat’s new Intelsat 22 satellite, which was successfully placed into orbit onboard an ILS Proton M rocket carrying a specialized UHF communications payload for the Australian Defense Force (ADF).            
   The Pentagon hopes to launch more than a dozen hosted payloads by 2022, according to Intelsat General Vice President of Hosted Payloads Don Brown, who called the launch of Intelsat 22 a significant milestone for the company’s long-term government strategy. Intelsat CEO David McGlade said the Intelsat 22 launch demonstrated the viability of hosted payloads in delivering customized space solutions for government users. “On time and on budget, the delivery of the UHF payload for the Australian Defense Force successfully demonstrates how hosted payloads are embraced by governments seeking cost-efficient access to space.”
   The operator hopes the new satellite’s customized beams will help expand its global mobility broadband fabric and allow continuous broadband connectivity for ships and planes traversing some of the world’s busiest transport routes. “Intelsat delivers broadband infrastructure everywhere, and the successful launch of Intelsat 22 delivers enhanced satellite capacity for telecommunications leaders in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, such as the UAE’s Etisalat and Ethio Telecom of Ethiopia,” said McGlade, “I would like to thank the teams of ILS, Khrunichev, Intelsat and Boeing for their tireless work on Intelsat 22, ensuring a timely launch and precise delivery to orbit for this critical mission.”
   The U.S. military may look at international examples like the ADF for answers in solving the challenge of lowering the demand on its own satellite networks. The Pentagon has increasingly turned to commercial providers for bandwidth to handle throughput demands for UAV drone surveillance and radio communications. The U.S. government has approximately 70 experimental payloads at its disposal. NASA and other civil space agencies have other payloads waiting to be launched into orbit. NSR President Christopher Baugh said that the global market for hosted payloads is expected to at least triple to more than $300 million annually in the next decade, with at least $1.8 billion in total revenue during that period.            
   The Pentagon spent at least $655 million on commercial satellite services in fiscal 2010. According to estimates compiled by the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), that number is up more than six-fold from 2001. The DISA report added that the amount of bandwidth the government purchased from commercial providers increased seven-fold to 9.1 gigahertz during the same period.            
   U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski is the Air Force’s top buyer of satellites and space systems. In 2011, Pawlikowski helped created an office that is responsible for surveying offices and agencies to determine how many hosted payloads the government could launch in the next 10 years. Studies compiled by Pawlikowski’s office, DISA and the U.S. Government Accountability Office have shown projected costs for major exclusive military satellite programs increasing $11.6 billion, or 321 percent, from original estimates for the six-year period from 2010 to 2016.            
   Is this a sign that a more focused shift on military and government hosted payload use may be on the horizon? Or, has this shift been in the works all along?