Hughes Network Operations Center. Photo: Hughes

Hughes Network Systems has been awarded one of several prime positions on a U.S. Air Force contract to support its Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). Hughes announced Tuesday that it will offer flexible satellite communications solutions for ABMS, which is part of the broader Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) effort. 

According to the Air Force, ABMS links weapon systems and personnel in the air, on the ground, at sea as well as space and cyber domains in a seamless manner that has not yet been available. It is building the Internet of Things (IoT) of the military that collects and makes sense of vast amounts of data supported by artificial intelligence. 

Hughes’ indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract has a ceiling of $950 million. The Air Force has awarded these contracts to a number of companies since last summer. The contracting vehicle provides each vendor the opportunity to receive anywhere from $1,000 to $950 million for work in up to seven different ABMS categories. Satellite hardware company Kymeta and SES Government Solutions have been awarded contracts as well. 

In May, the Air Force announced it was moving ABMS from a “largely theoretical and development status to one involving the acquisition of specialized equipment and more real-world testing.” 

Rick Lober, vice president and general manager of the Defense and Intelligence Systems Division at Hughes, said this position reflects Hughes leadership in engineering open standard, interoperable network solutions 

“We look forward to bringing intelligent, multi-transport technologies, such as our unique Terminal Management Agent, to deploy the resilient networking the Air Force requires for mission assurance,” Lober commented.