Looking in from the outside, it would be easy to assume that the milsatcom market is all about cutting costs and investing less money. Scratch beneath the service, and you still see a market of opportunity and creativity that is not going away anytime soon.

The milsatcom market could see some interesting deals in the pipeline, according to Claude Rousseau, a senior analyst at NSR, who highlights the positives of the sector. “There is some uncertainty around some programs, but equally, we are not seeing this market die. The commercial industry can still expect some contracts to come their way. We are seeing a continuation of contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense – notably the L-3 GCS contract with USSOCOM for deployable VSATs. There are bright spots, but there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the future. A lot of this has to do with budget cuts. The issue will be whether or not governments want to build their own systems, own them and operate them themselves.”

We are at a major inflection point in the milsatcom arena. The pullout of troops of Afghanistan, slated to happen in the near future, means a lot of resources could start to leave the region. Where do they go next? Rousseau believes that the main concerns for Europe are the Middle East, and what happens in countries such as Syria, Libya and Iran. “These will continue to be hotspots,” he says. “You have the horn of Africa as well. There will be more deployments here. ISR will be the big thing here. We are seeing a lot more development in Europe of more nimble forces, smaller operating units. Mobility continues to be a key driver. However, you still have the budget situation in Europe, which casts a shadow over all of this. That budget situation is dependent on countries who don’t necessarily have much to do with the fronts.”

In this special feature, we talk to four countries’ representatives outside of the United States about their milsatcom requirements, how the economic environment is impacting their decisions, what technology they are looking for, as well as their current thinking regarding hot milsatcom topics such as Ka-band and hosted payloads.

Canada

Colonel André Dupuis, director of space requirements, Canadian Department of National Defense admits Canada’s strategy is all about getting best value for its satcoms spending in the long term. Over the next two years, Canada will leverage the investments it has already made in the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program alongside the United States to the maximum extent possible.

“The Canada First Defense Strategy is very clear,” says Dupuis. “We are charged with the defense of Canada. North America, and to take leadership in operations around the world. That creates a very challenging command-and-control environment to work in. Satellite communications are critical here. We have made some excellent deals in terms of satcoms access. Now, we have to work at putting the ground infrastructure in place. The next piece is working towards the newest developments in satellite communications including IP-based satcoms, and the operational value that could bring.”

A blurring between satellite and IP is definitely taking place, according to Dupuis, who adds that routers will be able figure out the best way to transmit signals back and forth as satellite moves to an IP-based system. “Satcom does not sit as a unique capability,” says Dupuis. “It can be part of an overall network. Therefore, the network needs special care. It needs to be treated as an end-to-end system, from the radio in warfighter’s hand, all the way back to strategic headquarters if that is what is required.”

Canada has yet to acquire a hosted payload. Dupuis believes it is unlikely that the country would go down the hosted payload route any time soon, but notes that any decision related to hosted payloads is at least 12 months away. “I am a fan of getting most bang for the buck,” he says. “In certain cases, a hosted payload would work. For example, if something came up, and we could bring something in a partnership context that our allies don’t have and we could fill a particular niche, we could certainly consider a hosted payload model. We continue to look at that. In the satcoms world, there are always requirements for more (bandwidth). There is room for a hosted payload but only if it makes sense. I don’t have a program right now that would require us to make a decision on hosted payloads in the next 12 months.”

Canada is also watching what is going on in the Ka-band environment. Teaming up with the United States on the WGS program is allowing Canada to move towards X-band and government Ka-band. “Commercial Ka-band has a role to play, but as a top-up to existing capacity. If there is not enough capacity in theater, we can look towards commercial Ka-band, but we don’t expect to see commercial Ka-band to be the backbone of our operations. Right now, we are focusing on rolling out what we have. But, we don’t rule out accessing commercial Ka-band,” says Dupuis. 

Italy

Italy has worked with France on the Sicral program. When asked if their milsatcoms plans had been cut due to the economic situation, Captain Giovanni Battista Durando, director, Segredifesa, Teledife 3rd Division, navigation, surveillance and communication satellite systems, answers with a resounding “no”.

Italy has been working on a strategy devised a few years ago, which it has implemented through two contracts, Sicral 2, which has been managed by Teledife, the Italian Procurement Agency, and the Athena-Fidus program managed by CNES (the French Space Agency). “Italy is one of the three nations providing capacity to NATO, with its Sicral constellation,” Durando says. “This is done through the NATO Satcom Post 2000 program. We are aware of increasing of NATO requirements and that NATO is considering to issue, very soon, a new tender. Being one of the few NATO nations with satcom capabilities and with the strong previous experience, Italy wishes to continue to support NATO in this field. However, this is a challenge for us. The actual programs foresees satellite launches in the 2014/2015 timeframe, therefore we are looking if we can provide capability to NATO, as well as build a credible milsatcom strategy for the medium term.”

Italy, like many countries, is keeping an eye on the hosted payload market, but has no firm plans to jump into this type of deal. Durando notes that it is not an easy task to host a commercial payload with military assets due to specific security requirements. “Yet, if you are considering to provide a payload for military (non-strategic) use to be hosted on board of a commercial satellite, you have to examine the cost-effectiveness of this, compared to the potential opportunities it offers.” 

The Netherlands

Like many European countries, The Netherlands has had to tighten its belt in terms of milsatcom spending. According to Captain Ulrich Berrevoets, program manager, NL Military Satellite Communication, the Netherlands has experienced a substantial cutback in budget, reductions in personnel and material. “This was explained in the policy letter of our Minister in April 2011,” he says.

With political elections coming up in the Netherlands, it is clear that the direction of the government’s milsatcom strategy could change. Partnerships with other countries are likely to be key. “We are very glad that last January, we signed up to the WGS program. AEHF has already been paid for. We see co-operation in the Benelux, as well as with countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, as an important means to cut investment costs. We are pursuing partnerships with other countries. We think partnerships are a good way to reduce costs,” says Berrevoets. “On WGS, that was very important. We were one of five partners, and as a result, we get a significant reduction of costs compared to the annual costs we paid before. That is an important saving. With co-operation, you also are able to solve interoperability issues much earlier, because when using the same constellation, you talk about the use of the same equipment and then you tend to be more open in finding solutions by working together with several partners. This is now an important part of what we do.”

The Netherlands is busy developing its milsatcom strategy in a number of ways. Approximately 60 percent of the country’s capacity needs come from milsatcom systems and around 40 percent of the capacity comes from commercial satellites. The partnership with the United States means the Netherlands is getting access to Ka-band capacity, which is presenting a number of challenges. A lot of new Ka-band ground infrastructure is needing to be built. “We are now busy getting our anchor stations ready for Ka-band anchoring to our terrestrial networks,” says Berrevoets. “That is the anchor station in Lauwersmeer, which is the Northern part of the Netherlands and our anchor station in Curacao. They are both remote controlled by our Networks Operations Center in Soesterberg. We already have some terminal capacity on Ka-band. We are busy doing some trials on that. The WGS capability gives us the opportunity to switch between Ka and X-band capacity. So, we can introduce more flexibility on this system. The plan is to build this Ka-band capability on these anchor stations over the next year.” 

Australia

Of course, one of the main headlines in the milsatcom arena this year was the successful launch of the IS-22 satellite featuring a payload for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The satellite was launched in March 2012 and has completed payload testing. The ADF can now use the capability for operations. Major General Michael Milford, head of ICT operations division for the ADF, explains how the capacity is being used.

“The capacity is being used to transition operational users from the leased services that the ADF has been using for a number of years,” he says. “In addition, lower priority users now have an increased chance of immediate access to Ultra-High Frequency satcom resources.”

The ADF’s need for satellite capacity can be broken down into three main coverage areas: Australia and its littoral waters; the broader Pacific and Indian Ocean regions; and the rest of world. Milford notes that the capacity required for each area is roughly proportional to the proximity to Australia. “Satellite communications capacity is also described in terms of wideband, or high-bandwidth IP connectivity, narrowband, or low-bandwidth voice and data and protected, or high reliability, LPI/LPD communications being used to support the ADF’s operational information exchange requirements,” he says. This capacity is also used to support the ADF’s raise, train and sustain functions, as well as some other government agency activities.”

The ADF is not standing still on this project and is now trying to improve its milsatcom infrastructure on the ground. A tender has been released for two phases of its Joint Project 2008, which aims to deliver small to large transportable terminals during the coming years. The tendering for the initial tranche of medium transportable terminals is almost complete and awaiting Government approval to enter into contract, according to Milford. “The tender for the family of transportable (small to large) has been released and we look forward to receiving the responses later this year,” he says. “The major goals over the next two years are to accept into service the wideband ground station in Western Australia, introduce the medium transportable ground terminals and operationalize the use of advanced waveforms in parallel with traditional with the traditional Frequency Division Multiple Access methods.”

Mark Holmes is the Editor of Via Satellite.International Milsatcom Focus: Find the Right Path to the Right Capability