March 2021 Next Generation Space Defense

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Next Generation Space Defense

March 2021

Cover image is courtesy of iDirect Government PUBLISHING OPERATIONS SENIOR COLUMNISTS THIS ISSUE’S AUTHORS Silvano Payne, Publisher + Executive Writer Chris Forrester, Broadgate Publications Warren Ackerly Simon Payne, Chief Technical Officer Karl Fuchs, iDirect Government Services Charlie Kawasaki Hartley G. Lesser, Editorial Director Bob Gough, Goonhilly Earth Station Pattie Lesser, Executive Editor Rebecca M. Cowen-Hirsch, Inmarsat Rick Lober Donald McGee, Production Manager Ken Peterman, Viasat Ryan Schradin Teresa Sanderson, Operations Director Giles Peeters, Track24 Defence Sean Payne, Business Development Director Koen Willems, Newtec Nate White Dan Makinster, Technical Advisor Mike Young, Envistacom

TABLE OF CONTENTS ADVERTISER INDEX

Dispatches Advantech Wireless Technologies, Inc...... Cover + Page 3

UK Space Agency + Inmarsat ...... 4 AirBorn Inc...... 9 Arianespace + Avio...... 4 NSR...... 6 AvL Technologies ...... 13 USSF + SMC...... 6 Rocket Lab...... 8 Blue52 Productions ...... 33 Cubic Corporation + Nuvotronics...... 10 MilSat Symposium ...... 11 CPI Satcom Products...... 27 Advantech Wireless ...... 12 Spaceﬂight Inc...... 14 SpacePath Communications...... 27 iDirect Government ...... 11

...... RADEUS LABS...... 7 Features

SatNews Digital or MilSat Symposium ...... 29 COMMAND CENTER: Dr. Derek Tournear, 14 Director, Space Development Agency Modular, Open Standards For SATCOM Network—The Beneﬁts....30 SpaceBridge...... 5 For U.S. + Allied Forces Author: Rick Lober, Defense & Intelligence Systems Division, Hughes Network Systems The Evolution Of End-To-End Communications Service Providers...34 Author: Nate White, VP + GM, Operating Unit, Peraton The SATCOM Failsafe For Border Security ...... 36 Author: Warren Ackerly, Business Development Manager, Paradigm Taking The Tactical Cloud With You… ...... 40 MilsatMagazine is published 11 times a year by Satnews Publishers, Author: Charlie Kawasaki, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions 800 Siesta Way, Sonoma, CA, 95476 — USA. Government Satellite Report: ...... 44 Phone: (707) 939-9306 / Fax: (707) 939-9235 DoD Doubles Down On MEO Satellites © 2021 Satnews Publishers Author: Ryan Schradin, Executive Editor, GSR (SES-GS) Space Surveillance Telescope To Assist in Space Domain Awareness .....46 We reserve the right to edit all submitted materials to meet publication + content guidelines, as well as for grammar and spelling errors, or to Keeping Track Of Space Debris ...... 51 move articles to an alternative issue to accommodate publication space Author: USSF’s Space & Missiles Systems Center requirements, or remove content due to space restrictions or unacceptable content. Submission of articles does not constitute acceptance of said material by Satnews Publishers. Edited materials may, or may not, be returned to author and/or company for review prior to Background image is courtesy of U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) publication. The views expressed in Satnews Publishers’ various Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and is a photo of the publications do not necessarily reﬂect the views or opinions of Satnews recent, experimental Terrier-Terrier-Oriole (TTO) Sounding Publishers. All rights reserved. All included imagery is courtesy of, and copyright to, the respective companies and/or named individuals. Rocket launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (WFF).

MilsatMagazine Page 2 March 2021

Dispatches

Inmarsat To Develop On-Orbit Telemetry Nick Shave, Vice President of Strategic Programs at Inmarsat Global Relay Service For UK Space Agency Government, said, “Inmarsat’s highly robust L-band satellite network is ideal to provide telemetry services for launch providers globally. The space launch market is an exciting new sector for our network and team to work on. This innovative project will allow us to solve problems and create efficiencies in the design of a reliable and secure telemetry solution for launch service providers and launch site operators.” Yasrine Ibnyahya, Senior Director of Advanced Concepts and Technologies at Inmarsat, added, “Inmarsat remains dedicated to supporting launch vehicle innovation by enabling new launch trajectories from anywhere in the world while reducing dependencies on ground networks.” Iwao Igarashi, VP and GM of Business Development, Space Systems at MHI, noted, “MHI is delighted to work on this innovative project with Inmarsat, Safran Data Systems and Haigh-Farr Inc. We hope that this project will promote further collaborations between UK and Japan in the The UK Space Agency has awarded a National Space Innovation space development industry.” Program (NSIP) contract to Inmarsat to develop an on-orbit telemetry relay service for rockets called “InRange.” Arianespace Signs Avio For 10-Vega C Launcher Builds

Arianespace has signed an agreement with Avio, prime contractor for the Vega and Vega C launchers, to start production of a batch of ten new Vega C rockets, to be launched starting in 2023. The agreement was signed in Rome on March 19, 2021, by Stéphane Inmarsat’s InRange service will reduce the dependency of space launch Israël, CEO of Arianespace, and Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, during a providers on traditional, expensive ground-based monitoring systems meeting between Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy, infrastructure for their rockets and will Finance and Recovery, and Giancarlo Giorgetti, Italian Minister of provide a more cost-effective, flexible Economic Development. solution, available globally via Vega C launchers produced within Batch 4 will serve institutional and Inmarsat’s geostationary L-band commercial missions from 2023 onwards; in particular, they will satellite network. contribute to the fulfillment of strategic objectives selected by European Inmarsat is working with Japan’s institutions, either collectively through ESA and the European

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Mitsubishi’s H3 Commission, or for national purposes. Therefore, 2021 will see (MHI) to ensure the InRange service Heavy Lifter Arianespace contracted for launch services for the next nine Copernicus develops to meet the challenging rocket. satellites within the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 of the environmental conditions experienced European Commission. by launch vehicles. Safran Data Vega C is a new-generation light launcher, perfectly suited to the launch Systems (France) and Haigh-Farr of both commercial and government payloads. Because of its high Inc. (USA) are also partners in this performance and versatility, Arianespace provides the best possible project and focus on the L-band solution to orbit small and medium spacecraft into a wide range of orbits transmitter and antenna design. (Sun-synchronous, ballistic, transfer to the Lagrange point L1, etc.), for This contract is valued at Earth Observation (EO), science, education, defense and other £258,000, with matched funding applications. With Vega C, Arianespace will offer enhanced performance from industry taking the project total and greater payload volume for future customers at the same price as for to £422,096. launches by Vega.

MilsatMagazine Page 4 March 2021 CONNECTING OUR MILITARY TO ITS MISSIONS

For over 30 years, SpaceBridge has striven to provide C4I over SATCOM connectivity Tactical , BLoS by being an innovator, leader, and trusted provider HTS System of bold tactical solutions in the military ground segment Satellite technologies.

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“Arianespace is delighted to have signed this agreement with our long- a proliferated, distributed, serialized technology stack. Software-defined standing partner Avio, confirming the ramp-up of Vega C, in particular to and software-centric, mass-produced, and a network-of-networks are meet European government requirements,” said Israël. “Through this long- proliferating across all segments of the Space Economy.” term supply, Arianespace kicks off its order for a fourth batch of Vega From mass-produced LEO-based satellites, to the growing “___ as-a- launchers, the first comprising only upgraded Vega C launchers. A number service” business models in the Space & Satellite Applications segment, the of European Earth observation and science programs, most notably sector is in a period of fundamental transformation. Copernicus, will fully benefit from the greater competitiveness of Vega C. This commercialization of space is unlocking new use-cases, new end- More than ever, Vega is establishing its role as the second pillar of Europe’s users, and overall driving a $1 trillion opportunity. space access capabilities, along with Ariane.” Ranging from science and technology missions where Ranzo commented, “We are delighted to receive a new batch order for space agencies are a ‘customer amongst many’ to Vega C, which confirms Arianespace’s customers’ interest and trust in the terrestrially-competitive satellite internet services, the new launcher product, which is the result of an effective cooperation Space Economy is on the cusp of significant growth. among several European industries under Avio’s leadership.” The Space Economy transformation is well underway, Author: Brad Grady, but connectivity remains the core revenue driver. NSR Principal Analyst

Market Revenues Of $1 Trillion Plus For Space + Satellite Markets… Experimental Research Rocket Launched An NSR Report By USSF + SMC From Wallops

The U.S. Space Force (USSF) and the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC)’s Launch Enterprise (PDF) successfully propelled an experimental research payload for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) aboard a Terrier- Terrier-Oriole (TTO) Sounding Rocket from The new NSR Global Space Economy report finds a NASA’s Wallops Flight cumulative space and satellite market revenue opportunity of Facility (WFF) in Virginia more than $1 trillion between 2019 and 2029. early on March 3, 2021. There is an expanding need for space-based services to satisfy needs in The successful mission was orbit and on earth fueled by expanding requirements for everything from full of many firsts for SMC’s space-enabled Big Data Analytics missions, to commercial crew missions Small Launch and Targets Photo of a Talos Terrier Oriole to the ISS, to “classical” connectivity use-cases. Division. This was the first sounding rocket launch, courtesy of NASA. While there is a developing space-based, space-consumed economy USSF small launch mission for underway; building connectivity services for Earth-based needs still 2021, the first AFRL dedicated partnership launch from WFF, the first dominates the market landscape. Either in direct connectivity for sounding rocket launch under the Sounding Rocket Program-4 broadband access or mobility markets or building/launching (NSROC) contract, and the first USSF sounding rocket launch with communications satellites; connectivity-focused use-cases dominate the Space Vector Corporation. NSR Global Space Economy revenue picture. The TTO vehicle was built by Space Vector, a small business, and “Classical/traditional connectivity requirements are the largest revenue Kratos Space and Missile Defense who were responsible for the source for the NSR Global Space Economy analysis,” said report author integration, interface and mission planning for the launch. and NSR Principal Analyst Brad Grady. “Right now, the entire sector is in “This mission is a great example of the innovation in SMC contracting a period of transformation – from largely complex, bespoke technology to and using Small Launch contracts to expand our capability and provide

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Photo of a Talos Terrier Oriole sounding rocket launch, courtesy of NASA. support in launching experimental missions,” stated Lt. Col. Ryan Rose, Chief of the Launch Enterprise’s Small Launch and Targets Division and Mission Director for this launch. “Congratulations to the entire government and industry team on successfully executing this important mission, and launching in only 16 months from contract award during the challenging conditions presented this past year.”

They Go Up So Fast… Rocket Lab’s Six Smallsat Launch Success — Including One For The US Army

Rocket Lab has successfully launched their 19th Electron mission and deployed six spacecraft to orbit for a range of government and commercial customers. deploying an EO satellite for BlackSky Global through Spaceflight Inc.; The mission, named ‘They Go Up So Fast,’ also deployed Rocket Lab’s two Internet of Things (IoT) smallsats for Australian commercial operators latest in-house manufactured Photon spacecraft to build flight heritage Fleet Space and Myriota; a test satellite built by the University of ahead of the upcoming CAPSTONE mission to the Moon New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space in collaboration with for NASA. The mission launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 22:30, March 22, 2021 UTC, successfully

Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

MilsatMagazine Page 8 March 2021 Dispatches the Royal Australian Air Force; a weather monitoring cubesat for Rocket Lab kick stage, Care Weather Technologies; and a technology demonstrator for the with the four silver U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC). The spheres of the new mission took the total number of satellites deployed to orbit by Rocket Lab Curie engine seen in to 104. the middle. Image is After Electron successfully launched to an initial 550 km circular orbit, courtesy of the the rocket’s integrated space tug or Kick Stage deployed the first five company. satellites to their individual orbits. Following the The kick stage is a powerful extra stage on Rocket Lab’s Electron launch deployment of the vehicle, designed to circularize the orbits of smallsats, taking them exactly Rocket Lab kick stage, with the four silver spheres of the final customer where they need to go — image is courtesy of Rocket Lab. new Curie engine seen in the middle. Image is courtesy payload on this of the company. The Kick Stage’s Curie mission the Kick Stage engine was then was reconfigured to reignited to lower its Photon, Rocket Lab’s in-house built spacecraft. Photon Pathstone is altitude and deploy the equipped with new power management, thermal control and attitude final small satellite to a control subsystems that will be used for the CAPSTONE mission to the 450 km circular orbit. Moon for NASA later this year. Photon Pathstone is also testing on-orbit With its relightable new deep-space radio capability, an upgraded RCS (reaction control Curie engine, the Kick system), as well as sun sensors and star trackers. Stage is unique in its capability to deploy multiple satellites to different orbits on the same small launch vehicle.

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MilsatMagazine Page 9 March 2021 Dispatches

the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) C5ISR Center and Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate (S&TCD). Nuvotronics will deliver a high-altitude balloon (HAB) payload solution to support WGS surrogate operations, intended to provide contingency communication support during “a day without SATCOM” scenarios. Nuvotronics’ HAB payload solution will support Ka-Band SATCOM for beyond line of sight (BLOS) communications between Division, Brigade, Battalion and Company echelons during electronic or kinetic attacks. During electronic or kinetic attack, SATCOM accessibility may be denied, which creates a need for the Army to have access to alternative capabilities that can effectively restore tactical communications and operate in denied environments. Nuvotronics’ HAB surrogate payload solution will introduce key Rocket Lab’s Photon rocket engine. Image is courtesy of the company. innovations based on proven technology and processes, including its unique and innovative additive manufacturing process called PolyStrata® Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said, which enables radio frequency component size reductions from 10x to “Congratulations and welcome to orbit for all of our 100x. PolyStrata also significantly improves radio frequency performance, customers on Electron. Reaching more than 100 which will allow Nuvotronics to meet more stringent requirements that satellites deployed is an incredible achievement for our would not otherwise be possible. team and I’m proud of their tireless efforts which have “Cubic has a long history of developing innovative solutions that address made Electron the second most frequently launched network availability and resiliency in challenged environments for our

U.S. rocket annually. Today’s mission was a flawless Peter Beck warfighters,” said Mike Knowles, president of Cubic Mission and demonstration of how Electron has changed the way Performance Solutions. “With our award-winning Nuvotronics technology, space is accessed. Not only did we deploy six customer satellites, but we we are able to provide a viable surrogate payload solution with a true size, also deployed our own pathfinding spacecraft to orbit in preparation for weight and power (SWaP) advantage.” our Moon mission later this year.” “We are very pleased to collaborate with the CCDC C5ISR Center and S&TCD to develop a solution that will provide transparent BLOS SATCOM Note: Details about Rocket Lab’s 20th Electron launch will be announced shortly, access to existing WGS Ka-Band ground terminals within a region that has with the next mission scheduled to take place from Launch Complex 1 within the been denied access to on-orbit WGS resources,” said Martin Amen, vice next few weeks. president and general manager of Cubic Nuvotronics.

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, is Cubic’s Nuvotronics To Develop HAB To the Army’s technology leader and largest technology developer. DEVCOM ensures the Support WGS-SP For The US Army dominance of Army capabilities by creating, integrating and delivering technology- enabled solutions to our Soldiers. The command provides the Army with an organic research and development capability. More than 13,700 Soldiers, civilian employees and direct contractors form this world-class team. As part of that team, there are more than 10,000 engineers and scientists, many of whom are the Army’s leading experts in their fields. The fundamental characteristic of the DEVCOM workforce is the focus on the Soldier. DEVCOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command, which assesses and integrates the future operational environment, emerging threats, and technologies to develop and deliver concepts, requirements, future force designs and the delivery of modernization solutions. Cubic Corporation (NYSE:CUB) has announced Nuvotronics, which operates within the company’s Cubic Mission and Performance Solutions (CMPS) business division, was awarded a contract worth approximately $5 million to develop a Wideband Global Satellite Surrogate Payload (WGS-SP) for

MilsatMagazine Page 10 March 2021 Dispatches

Upcoming MilSat Symposium To Launch Space operations have a critical role in interconnecting the services and an Into Next-Generation Space Defense — increasing role in the defense of space assets. June 1 Thru 3 The MilSat Symposium fosters discussion on these new and developing connections while addressing the technological, logistical and financial understandings that are required to build next-generation space defense.

2021.milsatshow.com

As space technology proliferates worldwide, the Department of Defense (DoD) has more choices regarding the rapid development and deployment of next-generation space defense technologies. At the MilSat Symposium, attendees will hear from some of the most brilliant minds that are focused on addressing the technological, logistical and financial advances needed to create the next epoch of military space infrastructure. The MilSat Symposium will present…

• Keynotes and presentations from leading military and civilian space leaders. • Expert-led in-depth sessions. • Live interaction including Q&A, one-to-one discussions, and direct attendee messaging. • A thorough briefing on the state of national space defense.

The MilSat Symposium serves as a bridge between

National Defense Space and Industry. As low cost space technology proliferates worldwide, DoD has more choices in the rapid development and deployment of next-generation space technologies.

MilsatMagazine Page 11 March 2021 Dispatches

New Taurus SSPAs + BUCs Intro’d By The LLITED mission is a Advantech Wireless grant awarded to The Aerospace Corporation through NASA’s Division of Heliophysics in the Science Mission Directorate and was selected for flight by the agency’s cubesat Launch Initiative (CSLI). As a U.S. government direct procurement, Spaceflight is the prime contractor to Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) NASA for the mission and the launch service is led by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Launch Services Program. The LLITED team includes scientists and engineers from The Aerospace Corporation, Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University, and University of New Hampshire. Advantech Wireless Technologies has released their new Sherpa-LTC: “Go Fast” 800W and 1000W X-band Solid State Power Amplifiers and “Spaceflight’s full-service offering with our portfolio of Sherpa OTVs Block-Up Converters (SSPAs/BUCs) packaged in its compact vehicles greatly increases the scientific opportunities for NASA, universities, Taurus outdoor enclosure. and other organizations that require deployments to non-traditional orbital Taurus-X is the perfect solution for MODs engaged in both new destinations,” said Valerie Skarupa, director of government business terminal deployments and programs to modernize existing military development for Spaceflight Inc. “We’ve enjoyed a long relationship with SATCOM terminals. NASA, launching nearly 20 spacecraft for the organization over the years, Advantech has successfully achieved a 65% reduction in weight and and are focused on helping them get their spacecraft exactly where they 50% reduction in size as compared to earlier models, making Taurus-X the need to be on orbit. This opportunity is especially rewarding as the award perfect choice for mobile terminals that must be efficient, compact in size recognized Spaceflight’s experience with in-space transportation systems.” and that must exhibit high resilience to shock and vibration. In January, Spaceflight successfully deployed 15 spacecraft from its first next-gen OTV (Sherpa-FX) on the record-breaking SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-1 launch. Spaceflight is preparing several Sherpas for launch NASA Contracts Spaceflight For The with both electric and chemical propulsion for missions later this year Agency’s LLITED Mission along with many traditional rideshare and dedicated missions, for a total of approximately 10 launches in 2021. The NASA cubesat project, named LLITED, will investigate the equatorial Spaceflight Inc., the global launch services provider, temperature and wind anomaly that occurs in the neutral atmosphere, and announced today it has been awarded a launch service the equatorial ionization anomaly that occurs in the region containing contract for the integration and launch of NASA’s LLITED charged particles. mission, two 1.5U spacecraft. Spaceflight Inc. will transport “Aerospace’s innovative cubesat mission will measure these two features the NASA Low-Latitude Ionosphere/Thermosphere simultaneously, a major new milestone for on-orbit satellite capability,” said Enhancements in Density (LLITED) cubesats to LEO on its Dr. Rebecca Bishop, principal investigator for LLITED. “By observing this Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) at the end of the altitude region more closely, scientists will gain a greater understanding of year aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. the degree of change in atmosphere density, which in turn affects the For this mission, the Sherpa-LTC, which uses chemical propulsion from amount of drag satellites encounter, as well as reentry rates. Because drag Benchmark Space Systems, will make its initial spacecraft deployments and is dependent on atmosphere density, understanding regional changes in then ignite and maneuver to another orbital destination to deploy the density can help predict an object’s reentry time and path.” NASA cubesats.

MilsatMagazine Page 12 March 2021 CONNECTING YOU TO THE FUTURE

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LIGHTWEIGHT IATA-COMPLIANT avltech.comCHECKABLE CASES avltech.com COMMAND CENTER DR. DEREK TOURNEAR DIRECTOR, SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, SMALLSAT SYMPOSIUM 2021 KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Dr. Derek Tournear is currently the Director of Dr. Tournear previously held leadership roles in industry, most recently the Space Development Agency, within the the director for the Harris Space & Intelligence (SIS) research & Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for development. SIS was a $2B business focused on providing advanced Research & Engineering (OUSD(R&E)). SDA technical solutions addressing the top National Security threats from will unify and integrate space capability underwater to outer space. development and deployment across the Prior to industry, Dr. Derek Tournear was a Senior Program Manager department to achieve the DoD space vision (SNIS-HQE) at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity while reducing overlap and inefficiency. He (IARPA) in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). At

previously served as the Assistant Director for Dr. Derek Tournear IARPA, Dr. Tournear served as a senior scientist for space activities and Space, responsible for developing the space technologies in the Oftfice of Smart Collection. research and engineering roadmap to address future gaps in the DoD Prior to IARPA, Dr. Tournear was a Program Manager for the Defense space architecture. Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Tactical Technology Office and Strategic Technology Office. At DARPA, he initiated and directed a large portfolio of program, with an emphasis on sensors and space.

MilsatMagazine Page 14 March 2021 Figure 1.

Dr. Tournear has professional experience at Los Alamos National I’m excited to talk about the Space Development Agency and what Laboratory (LANL) managing intelligence and defense programs. During we have done over the past year and our year term and long term his time at LANL, he initiated a new field of study in gamma ray optics, visions. I want to talk about the many products that we’re and developed sensors for nuclear material detection. developing and delivering, so SDA is set up to exist and operate Dr. Tournear has a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University and a B.S. almost as a commercial entity within the Defense Department and, from Purdue University. In 2010 he received an “Outstanding Alumnus” as such, we are very focused on product delivery. Those products award from Purdue University and a 2008 DARPA award for “Outstanding are capabilities that we are giving to the warﬁghter. (See Figure 1.) Accomplishments in a Systems Technology Area.” Dr. Tournear is a 2011 recipient of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, The two products were are primarily focused on are, #1, Beyond-Line- and a 2012 recipient of the Office of Director of National Intelligence Of-Sight (BLOS) targeting for time-sensitive targets, or mobile Award for Exceptional Public Service. targets… think mobile missile launchers or ships and being able to detect them, identify them, calculate a firing control solution on those The following is a transcript of Dr. Tournear’s keynote speech that was targets, and then provide those data directly to a weapons system and delivered at SmallSat Symposium 2021 do all that from space. in February of this year. Product #2 is to be able to do that exact same mission as Product #1 except now, instead of mobile missiles and ships, I want to be able to do that for advanced missiles, so hypersonic glide vehicles and those types of things. Detect them, track them, calculate a fire control

MilsatMagazine Page 15 March 2021 Figure 2. solution and give it to the warfighters. Those are the products that the customer. What enables innovation is the ability for to go out and look SDA is focused on delivering for the warfighter in the future. (See at products that affect a lot of new customers, new bases, and you can Figure 2.) have a small win and it’s a big deal for you. For a startup corporation, for a startup company or a startup entity within the government, a Now one question — why do we need the SDA to do this, I mean, small win is a big deal. For a larger entity, it’s not, so you’re going to we’ve got the U.S. Space Force (USSF), we’ve got a lot of different be focused on low risk, incremental approaches. entities and most of you have already talked about this, so I’ll only touch on it briefly, but all boils down to the innovator’s dilemma. The SDA is focused on going out there, and going out there a broad set of customers, our customers are all combatant commanders that The same thing that affects industry affects government, as well. That the department feels can execute the mission, make sure we can is, when you have the large entity that is entrenched with delivering to provide those capabilities, those products that I previously mentioned. an existing, entrenched customer, they are primarily focused on In order to do that, we’re taking a completely different approach. The delivering those capabilities in a low list, incremental approach. And approach we’re taking is to stop focusing on high value, low density, that’s nothing wrong with the large entity, whether that be a large capabilities by high value, low density satellites and focus on high corporation that’s been building a product, or rather that be an density, low value satellites, or focus on proliferation. organization within the government that is delivering certain products. So that’s scenario #1. We’re going to provide those products via However, the key thing to realize is, the innovator dilemma is real. The proliferation. Hundreds to thousands of satellites that provides us with innovator’s dilemma simply states that you cannot focus on innovation the resilience needed and it also provides us with the timely access at the same time you’re focusing on delivering a product to an existing needed to deliver those products. (See Figure 3 on the following page.)

MilsatMagazine Page 16 March 2021 Figure 3.

Scenario #2 is spiral development. One of the key things that is different How are we going to provide those next two products? We have what are going to field the capabilities… we’re going to field those products is known as the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA). That is every two years. And each tranche presents new capabilities that our layered approach to delivering those capabilities. (See Figure 4 on incrementally improve over the previous set. And we’re going to the following page.) continue to build these up, as threats evolve and as technology evolves. The icon on the right are the actual set of systems — this is a functional We want to make sure we take technology that is ready to field today block diagram that talks about how we are going to deliver those and get that to orbit within two years to provide those new capabilities capabilities. The backbone is the transport… that’s that blue gray box to the warfighter. That is different than looking at what is the ultimate in the middle. That is the mesh network of hundreds of satellites, all set of requirements that we need to deliver and then develop a optically interconnected, that provides a low latency data comm program to build and deliver that set of capabilities and that could network and also provides connectivity directly down to existing, require cost growth, it could require schedule growth, all to make sure tactical beta links. you hit that given set of requirements. We’re not fielding new equipment to the user on the ground. We’re We’re not basing off that… we have spiral development. We’re going going over their existing tactical beta links from that transport layer. to field new tranches every two years and just continue to spiral up those capabilities. OK, so that’s great. That’s the backbone, that’s how we tie everything together to make sure I can have high bandwidth, low latency communications directly to the end-user on the ground. What really

MilsatMagazine Page 17 March 2021 Figure 4.

makes this powerful is now I can put data onto that network that the And the Deterrence is the third one, that is our Space Situational user needs. So the three sensing layers off to the right, those are the Awareness (SSA) layer. And right now we’re not doing a lot with that ones that provide the data to that transport layer. because the Space Force is actually focused a lot on that area to focus on how they can improve that resiliency and those detection Number One is Tracking. That is our overhead, persistent infrared tech, capabilities. Primarily, we looking at cisLunar space, but AFRL (Air those are the satellites that provide the detection and tracking for the Force Research Laboratory) has some programs in that, so, we’re just advanced missile threat. SDA is building those out with the Missile watching that as part of our Deterrence layer. Defense Agency (MDA) to make certain we can field that constellation. The key things is to get all of those data, get it to the Transport layer, Number Two is Custody. Think of target custody. That is our so it can be fused and further disseminated out to the tactical edge, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) — that is the layer out to the warfighter. Now a lot of that essentially takes some magic, that provides the ability to detect and track those mobile targets that right? That’s what the Battle Management light blue layer is. I mentioned previously. That is a set of constellation of electro-optical, a set of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), that can be a set of SIGNIT All of this onboard processing, all of the real-time algorithms that satellites. All of those data feed into what we call the Custody layer. enable this data fusion, automatic target recognition, and network management, all of that is what we call our Battle Management layer. This is a mixer of commercial applications and commercial constellations as well as government owned and operated And that is a federated layer that runs on all of the satellites, but constellations. When we’re working with industries to make sure we primarily the Transport satellites, so that we can do federated can get commercial data from their commercial imagery satellites onto processing or cloud processing across all of those satellites to enable what we call our Custody layer, we can fuse all of those data together. the ability to do this computation in real-time.

MilsatMagazine Page 18 March 2021 One other layer is our Navigation layer. Now, Navigation is essentially does not want to focus on tech development... we want to focus on for free from Transport. If I have that Transport architecture that has all capability and product field. (See Figure 5) of these optical crosslinks and exquisite timing between the satellites, I can get very precise time and position of the satellite. Then, I can We’re going to fly a few demos in 2021, but primarily it’s all to show those send that data down as a Navigation message over those existing capabilities that we can go from space over existing tactical data links so Tactical beta links. In essence, people can get a Navigation timing that we can show we can use commoditized optical crosslinks to talk to message over their existing comm links from the Transport satellite. one another, talk to the ground, and also talk to airborne platforms.

That’s what we’re doing for alternative navigation. And then of course The real capabilities start happening we seal our Tranches. Tranche 0 there’s the Support layer — that is our ground support equipment — that in FY22, so we’re looking at our first launch in September of 2022, is our launch and operations — and any special user that we would field second launch in March of 2023. — right now, we don’t anticipate any. That would all be handled by the support layer. That is the ‘how’ we are going to provide those capabilities. We want to field 30 satellites total in this Tranche. Twenty of those satellites are Transport satellites. That will show that we can seal this Now, when would we actually field these capabilities. As I mentioned, mesh network to show that we can do this computation, we can do the we’re developing these in tranches. The first set right now, basically last optical networking and that we can actually communicate to the year and this year, we’re building up some technology developments, ground and airborne assets. primarily working with DARPA and AFRL. Space Development Agency

Figure 5.

MilsatMagazine Page 19 March 2021 We’ll demonstrate all of that in Tranche 0. We’ll also demonstrate a set For Tracking, we’re working within the department to say exactly what of wide field and medium field of view satellites to do the missile would be funded as part of Tranche 1 for Tracking, but ideally, we would tracking mission to show we can network those with Transport, we can have on the order of 47 satellites that would give us enough capabilities actually calculate fire control solutions based on the data. for regional persistence to be able to detect advanced missile threats.

All of that makes up the Tranche 0 constellation. Then we’re working For Custody, we’re working with mission partners to field out their with mission partners to show we can take Custody, ISR data from their constellations and get their constellations to plug into Transport to move satellites via the ground back to Transport to the tactical edge. And those data. Some of those mission partners are commercial ISR providers. for Navigation, we’ll also show that we can, in essence, do timing transfer and calculate the position of those satellites. Tranche 0 is our immersion Tranche and is essentially the free product, if you will, that will get people hooked on what we’re selling. It will We call Tranche 0 our Warfighter Emerging Tranche because it allows allow them to see the data, understand what proliferated LEO can people to start to develop their comm ops and their techniques and provide for their situation and then allow them to start to develop their procedures to work with these kind of data. plans around access to those data.

Tranche 1 two years later, now we have hundreds of satellites in the In Tranche 1, that’s when we have initial warfighting capability. This is Transport layer. We can actually start to get regional persistence for our Release 1, if you will. This is when we have enough satellites up that tactical comm layer and we’ll move that data in and out of theater. there so we can actually start to provide persistence over a given region of interest. We can actually start to affect a fight in different regions.

Figure 6.

MilsatMagazine Page 20 March 2021 Figure 7.

Tranche 2, hundreds more satellites, and now we have global mission operations center at in North Dakota. We have distributed persistence, not just regional persistence. That’s our final operating operations to make sure we have access to talent where we need to capability. In Tranche 3, that’s when we start to fold in lessons learned and we can get to those missions in those locations (See Figure 7). from Tranche 1. We start to pull in new technology that was developed along the way and then we can start to respond to new Tranches as Figure 7 shows how busy we’ve been in the last year. It seems like not they come online. that long ago, when I was in person at the last smallsat conference talking about our plans for 2020, and I just want to highlight that we Tranche 4 and beyond, every two years, new technology gets fielded, have been successful in hitting all of the milestones and achieving what more satellites get fielded, and we adjust based on threat and need. we expected to achieve in 2020, even despite all of the challenges So, that’s how we operate. with COVID.

How are we doing this execution-wise? One of the key things that These are the contracting actions that we’ve taken over the last year we’ve learned over the year is that you can do quite well with to make sure that we have all of the pieces moving and actually distributed operations (See Figure 6 on the preceeding page). pushing forward delivering these products. Primarily the key thing is that we’ve executed 11 contracts in 2020 — we received our first Those are all of the locations where SDA has individuals that are funding early in February of 2020 and since then we’ve been able working and operating, helping us to make this happen, so we’re to execute. distributed. Our next facility is going to open up some ground and

MilsatMagazine Page 21 March 2021 FigureFigure 8. 7.

The key contracts (see Figure 8) that are critical to that Tranche 0 And Tracking, we have two performers there, each delivering four success. For Transport, we have 20 satellites, 10 on contract from satellites — L3Harris and SpaceX. As part of our mission team, MDA Lockheed Martin and YORK Space Systems. has two satellites and they have L3Harris and Northrop Grumman on their team. The Naval Research Laboratory is helping us with Ground. Missions Systems Engineering and Integration is done by Perspecta. They’re All of these performers are the ones actually doing the work. At the helping to make sure all of these pieces and parts come together, as SDA, we’re in the government, we don’t actually do anything, we try we have multiple performers with multiple pieces. to enable the folks that are actually doing the work. This is our Tranche 0 team and they’re actually building the satellites and Launch was the most recent contract awarded to SpaceX for two making it happen. launches, one in September of 2022 and the second one no later than March of 2023. The SDA accomplishments — we did deliver two satellites, nine months after receiving our initial funding. Those two satellites are at the bottom of this graphic. This was our holiday card (see Figure 9 on the following page) — this was a joint mission between DARPA, AFRL and SDA to build these two satellites.

MilsatMagazine Page 22 March 2021 Figure 9.

Unfortunately, there was a mishap during payload processing down at Now let’s talk about some about some of the big impacts we’ve had. I the Cape, so they were not two of the 143 satellites that were launched cannot overstate the profundity of the proliferation and final as part of the SpaceX Transporter 1 mission. But, the good news is, development of architecture. When this was first pitched, this whole while they were damaged in payload processing, we will be able to concept, within the Pentagon, within the department, people looked repair them and we will be able to launch them on Transporter-2. at the capabilities that we were planning to be able to provide and they said, “Who are those satellites to be able to do that?” With that, We’ve awarded all of the contracts for all of the performers to build out we looked at their historical model. Tranche 0 and we are now started to being recognized within the Pentagon and within the department as really a change agent. People are seeing The chart (see Figure 10) reveals the hundreds of millions of dollars per what we are doing and that’s good. satellite. So, if you want to proliferate hundreds to thousands of these satellites, there’s no way that’s affordable. I contended at the time that, no, the price was going to be actually less than $20 million per satellite and, in fact, it was affordable and I was basing that off what I had seen in industry to that point and what the commercial providers were able to do.

As it turns out, you look at our Transport satellite, those 20 satellites — if you take the average cost of all the NRE (Non-Recurring Engineering costs) on those 20 satellites — it averages out to $14.1 million. It really shows that, yes, in fact, this is believable and it can be done at an affordable cost.

Figure 10.

MilsatMagazine Page 23 March 2021 And as we push forward on cost one, the key thing there is now we’re That is what is enabling these missions to succeed and that is key. I talking about on the order of 150 satellites. So, we even need to push need industry to partner with me on that, to continue to come up with that down lower. I believe this is feasible, because we got a lot of ways on how to drive that down, how to drive manufacturability up so responses back to our request for information (RFI) from industry we can continue to push proliferation and final development. saying, you know, if you’re buying into scale, we can push it down significantly lower than the cost in the current contracts. Some of the details as to how we are marching forward for our product release are shown in Figure 11. Tranche 0. As I mentioned, we have a We’re excited about that. And that really shows the power of few demos planned in 2021, so I’ll talk a little about those. proliferation and how we can be resilient against the threats and provide these capabilities in a timely manner. Obviously, Blackjack at the top, that’s a DARPA demo and they’ve got several different concepts. They’re going to fly two satellites later this This is what enabled the revolution for this kind of concept. And it’s year and then they’re going to culminate with more than that, not anything the government has done, it really what’s been driven by somewhere on the order of a dozen up to 18 satellites in the 2022- commercial enterprises, commercial innovation and commercial 2023 timeframe as the full DARPA Blackjack program. industry pushing the price down, only in the cost of these satellites, but the cost of launches has dropped significantly as well.

Figure 11.

MilsatMagazine Page 24 March 2021 PIRPL is a joint SDA – MDA program. The performer is Northrop on because we are definitely a transition partner. That would Grumman and that is to fly a medium field of view, multi-spectral demonstrate that you can go from space to a Link 16 tactical datalink imager for OPIR (Overhead Persistent Infrared) to be able to network. That will be launched later this year. demonstrate feasibility and use that for some of our models. That will be launched on NG-16 later this year. And, of course, SMC (Space & Missile Systems Center) and DARPA are working a lot of ground operations. MDA is working a lot of ground Mandrake II as I mentioned would be on-orbit but, unfortunately, it operations and we’re tracking and working with them on that. will now be launched on Transporter-2 in June, so we’re looking The key thing, then, is in 2022, that’s when we launch our Tranche 0. forward to that. That will demonstrate optical crosslinks between two That’s 20 Transport satellites, eight wide field of view OPIR satellites satellites, optical crosslink to the ground, and optical crosslink to and two medium field of view HBTSS (Hypersonic and Ballistic airborne systems. We’re excited about that. Tracking Space Sensor) satellites being built and delivered by MDA.

LINCS, that is a meta-optical crosslinks demonstration. That is General Then Tranche 1 comes up in 2024 where we have on the order of 150 Atomics, they are the performer on that. Again, that’s two satellites Transport satellites and, hopefully, depending on what happens demonstrating that we can do optical crosslinks with various, other within the funding debate in the department, on the order of 40 entities. That will also be launched on Transporter-2. Tracking satellites.

XVI, that is primarily an AFRL program that we are working with AFRL Longer term plans and what can really be expected… we’re on track

Figure 12.

MilsatMagazine Page 25 March 2021 to Tranche 0, so that’s pushing forward. All we can do is hope for That’s a big deal. How can we continue to push differences in our success there and continue to deliver and make sure we hit those Navigation, so that we can fuse data together, come up with a Nav milestones. Obviously the folks that are on contract are the ones that message and get that off to the field. Those are key areas of are responsible for making sure they execute. investment. And we’ll be continuing to push on the optical crosslinks on that technology. Those are all key things along the Transport The key thing going forward is Tranche 1. Tranche 1 is going to be a capability roadmap. big deal — 150’ish satellites for Transport. Pushing forward, the plan is to issue an RFP (Request for Proposal) this summer for that. We want As far as the Sensing roadmap for Tracking and Custody, primarily there to get those on contract by the end of this calendar year so that we we are looking at are there other missions that folks are fielding — can can build and have all 150 satellites ready for launch for that we use those data to be able to synergistically come up with a solution September 2024 date. That’s what we’re pushing for. where we fuse those together. That’s why the areas where we’re looking for investment and for folks to team with us, as well as any kind We already have our Request for Information (RFI). We’ve received of autonomy. feedback from industry. We understand that and we’re pulling that in. We plan on coming out with a draft RFP in the summer. Shortly This is our product roadmap. Please, review this and study it to see if thereafter, after we get feedback from industry, we’ll come out with the there are ways you can help. We also have a broad area announcement real RFP and hope to continue to push forward. That’s what you should on the street that kind of talks about investment that we’re willing to be watching for (See Figure 12 on the preceeding page). make to buy down some of our largest technical risks. If you have concepts there that can buy down those risks, send us an executive Let’s talk about the grand vision overview of what capabilities and summary and we’d love to open up that conversation. product we plan on fielding in the future. We view this as our product roadmap. For Tranche 0 has gone into the detail box, what capabilities With that, we really appreciate your time and the opportunity to talk will be included in that product. Tranche 1, a little about the details today about what Space Development Agency has done and our future there as far as what capabilities we provide to include in that product plans and look forward to continuing to team with industry to make as a minimal, viable product. these a reality. Thank you.

But then, for Tranches 2 , 3, 4 and 5 on out, this is the product www.sda.mil roadmap. If folks are looking at what we should be investing in, in industry, to make sure that we can come up with a product that we can sell to the Space Development Agency that they will include in their Tranches that is necessary for the warfighter, this is essentially the product roadmap that you could use for investment.

We need a lot of autonomy and real-time processing. That’s a big deal. It’s a big deal not only on the on-board processing, but add hard board processing, you’ll see a lot of that is included in the green lines here. That’s Battle Management. There’s a lot of activity in there and we need help with industry.

We need a lot of algorithm development work to make sure that we can actually autonomously port so that we can port algorithms developed from the ground so that we can get those to run autonomously in space to be able to do data fusion and automatic target recognition, those kind of things.

On the Transport side, the big key issues there are, how can we be ensure that we can have very small encryption devices that fit in the timescale and the SWaP seed that we need to do this proliferation.

MilsatMagazine Page 26 March 2021 Dispatches

Septentrio’s First OSNMA Encrypted GNSS Satellite Signal Offers Protection From Spoofing

Download Illegal jamming device (in-car chirp jammer) jams GPS receivers within hundreds of metres including construction sites the CPI Septentrio‘s receiver has successfully authenticated navigation data of the first OSNMA encrypted GNSS satellite mobile app! signal. Septentrio is a provider of high-precision GNSS positioning solutions. OSNMA (Open Service Navigation Message Authentication) offers end- to-end authentication on a civilian signal, protecting receivers from spoofing attacks. OSNMA is being pioneered by the Galileo Program, with Septentrio providing a testbed for this technology from the end-user point HPA RF calculator of view. The anti-spoofing capabilities of OSNMA will complement Septentrio’s already best-in-class anti-jamming technology AIM+, and Quickly access HPA data sheets further strengthen the overall security of Septentrio GNSS receivers. “The authentication of the Galileo signal using the OSNMA technology TWTA/SSPA product finder is yet another ‘first’ that we are pleased to share with our close partner ESA,” commented Bruno Bougard, R&D Director at Septentrio. Convenient contact info “Septentrio is proud and thankful to be able to contribute to the realization of one of Galileo’s key differentiators. “ “Septentrio is committed to providing highly accurate and secure positioning and timing solutions to industrial applications and critical Search: CPI Satcom infrastructure. This is another example where Septentrio demonstrates its leadership in end-to-end GNSS receiver security with its breakthrough anti- jamming and anti-spoofing technology,” said François Freulon, Head of Product Management at Septentrio. “Thanks to our future proof products, we will be rolling out OSNMA in our portfolio as soon as it is available. This will further enhance the security of our receivers ensuring robust, trustworthy and reliable operation even in the most challenging environments.”

MilsatMagazine Page 27 March 2021 Dispatches

KVH Issues Their SpacePath Awarded New Contracts for TACNAV 3D TACNAV System Military + Commercial Uplink Applications

The TACNAV 3D tactical navigation system is now available from KVH Industries, Inc., (Nasdaq: KVHI) — TACNAV 3D comes with the P-1775 inertial measurement unit (IMU) featuring the company’s new photonic integrated chip (PIC) technology. KVH has been developing and testing the PIC SpacePath Communications (‘SpacePath’) has been awarded technology for more than three years and is continuing to a contract for their super-compact solid-state amplifiers by a roll the technology into existing product lines. major U.S. satellite equipment manufacturer. KVH’s PIC technology features an integrated planar SpacePath will supply Ku- and X-band compact form factor, high optical chip that replaces individual fiber optic efficiency and proven performance solid-state power amplifiers (SSPA). At components to simplify production while maintaining or 4.45 kg for the 100W Ku-band unit, these lightweight SSPAs will be improving accuracy and performance. KVH’s IMUs with deployed for commercial and secure, military communications in smallsat PIC technology are designed to deliver improved bias stability and 20 uplink terminals. times higher accuracy than less expensive MEMS inertial measurement SpacePath’s high performance uplink amplifiers cover all mission-critical units. They also use modular designs for ease of integration and segments, including digital satellite newsgathering (DSNG), flyaway or outstanding repeatability unit-to-unit. truck-based systems, fixed-Earth stations and MILSATCOM. The fiber optic gyro (FOG)-based TACNAV 3D tactical navigation Colin Bolton system provides an A-PNT (assured positioning, navigation, and timing) Colin Bolton, Director of Business Development, SpacePath solution with an embedded GNSS and optional chip-scale atomic clock Communications, said, “We are delighted that our lightweight and (CSAC). TACNAV 3D’s modular tactical design enables it to function as a compact solid-state amplifiers have been selected for these new standalone inertial navigation solution and as the core of an A-PNT- applications. This latest order yet again underlines our proven credentials in capable multi-functional battlefield management system. advanced, uplink amplifier technology among the global KVH’s TACNAV solutions deliver critical, reliable performance in telecommunications and SATCOM market.” demanding environments for vehicles ranging from battle tanks and M- ATVs, to armored vehicles, reconnaissance, and combat support vehicles. TACNAV systems are currently in use by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, as well as many allied customers including Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Turkey. Dan Conway “We are pleased to incorporate our newest technology into the TACNAV 3D,” said Dan Conway, EVP of KVH’s inertial navigation group. “We are committed to ensuring that this battle-proven system provides the precise navigation that is vital to mission success and addresses the military demand for assured positioning, navigation, and timing (A-PNT) solutions.”

MilsatMagazine Page 28 March 2021 SatNews CONNECTIONS ON EARTH FOR CONNECTIONS IN SPACE

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SatMagazine | MilsatMagazine | SatNews.com Feature MODULAR, OPEN STANDARDS FOR SATCOM NETWORKS WILL YIELD BENEFITS FOR U.S. + ALLIED FORCES Author: Rick Lober, Vice President and General Manager, Defense & Intelligence Systems Division, Hughes Network Systems

MilsatMagazine Page 30 March 2021 As the planners at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) work to Speeding SATCOM Service in the Field transform the warﬁghting satellite communications (SATCOM) In the battlefield, time is of the essence, yet warfighters today can wait network, part of the challenge is to connect several siloed, weeks — or even months — to replace or upgrade SATCOM service. wideband and narrowband systems that span more than 17,000 If SATCOM systems were flexible and interoperable, a faulty user terminals from over 100 different providers. terminal could be replaced by autonomously leveraging software- defined, Flexible Modem Interface/ Flexible Terminal Interface tools The Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) to access another modem, service or satellite to maintain continuity framework, including the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Battle of service. Management System (ABMS), intends to accomplish this herculean Instead, to access new commercial SATCOM capabilities using the task — not just across technology and service providers but across Satellite Access Request (SAR) and Gateway Access Request (GAR) allied partners. A modular, open standards approach to building processes, users are required to specify operating location, equipment that framework offers the most expeditious and effective path to and link parameter specifications, and then await approval of the service enabling the fast, resilient communications network needed across and then arrival of the necessary equipment. the DoD enterprise. Similar processes and time constraints exist when using the DoD’s capacity on any of the ten Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellites. Rarely does this approval process move at the speed of the mission. By adopting modular networking, the Pentagon can better assure commanders and warfighters that SATCOM networks will be available when and where they need them.

Visualization of JADC2 Vision. Source link...

Just as a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) offers a fast-track to modernizing DoD business and technical systems, it yields many benefits for the DoD’s SATCOM network. Open-standards, modular Artistic rendition of a WGS satellite, courtesy of Boeing. satellite architectures employ a variety of SATCOM technologies to enable the network to deliver the most powerful benefits to the user, Adapting New Technologies Faster including seamless information-sharing across systems and users. With technology advancing at warp speed, maintaining the pace of This approach also supports the integration of Commercial Off-The- cutting-edge innovation can challenge any enterprise. Here again, the Shelf (COTS) technology that can lower the cost of building and modular, open-systems approach enables fast and easy integration of maintaining the network, enabling faster software and hardware upgrades new technologies. to minimize obsolescence and leverage the latest security protocols. With new technology and new services, whether military or Adopting open and modular SATCOM systems is a major, but commercial, warfighters gain more of the flexibility, resiliency and necessary transformation for the DoD. Government-designed and security that they need. In fact, using this paradigm, the DoD can owned capabilities may meet strict user requirements, but today’s procure and deploy commercial SATCOM networks quickly, and then rapidly changing, data-centric battlespace requires innovative enhance them over time to leverage leading-edge technologies — technologies so soldiers can adapt and respond quickly — and maintain wireless LTE, 5G, cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and strategic advantage in protecting U.S. national security. Machine Learning (ML) — as quickly as they evolve.

MilsatMagazine Page 31 March 2021 Following this model for SATCOM, warfighters could upgrade a user communications elements, the Hughes TMA ensures continuous terminal or replace a system with plug-and-play ease. connectivity. What’s more, leveraging this mission management system This is how today’s cellular providers operate, regularly adding new in the network operations center, the DoD can add new features, technologies and capabilities. Individual users can buy or replace a enhance security and attain exponentially higher resiliency. device in any country and connect to the Internet right away because of the flexibility gained from enterprise-wide, open-standards Preparing for the Future with architectures that cross borders and time zones. Adaptable, Scalable Technology The DoD is ready for a more open, modular network architecture, as Ensuring Government Network Flexibility evidenced by its focus on implementing the JADC2 concept and the An open-standards network architecture facilitates the integration of related service’s network modernization like the Air Force’s ABMS. commercial SATCOM technologies to meet government For DoD to be responsive to changing national security requirements faster and maintain flexibility. This is because a modular requirements, it cannot wait decades to get technology designed, system makes it easy to work with industry partners to adopt and test procured and deployed. new technologies. Now is the time to take advantage of government and commercial One specific technology that enables this type of modularity is the innovation to develop military satellite communications networks that Hughes Terminal Management Agent (TMA) that works with the DoD’s are adaptable and scalable — regardless of vendor or service provider. flexible modem and terminal interface. This innovation evolved from a Only then will DoD be able to support the warfighter with 24X7, reliable U.S. Air Force study, under which Hughes has helped the DoD embrace access to the volumes of data on which commanders and leaders base commercial, enterprise-wide SATCOM network technology for mission-critical, real-time decision-making. maximum diversity, redundancy and security to keep soldiers connected General John “Jay” Raymond, Chief of Space Operations for the — even at the tactical edge. U.S. Space Force, reminded the space community in December of A ground-breaking software feature, the TMA was developed by 2020 that the DoD is eager to partner with industry to learn about Hughes to interconnect seamlessly with various satellite modems, adapting business practices to speed development and production of regardless of manufacturer or satellite system, for fast, seamless new systems. switching across two or more modems within a single terminal. In this way, the TMA weaves together stove-piped systems to enable user www.hughes.com access to diverse platforms from a single terminal, overcoming the vulnerability of single-threaded satellite systems, which are susceptible to malicious actors, poor antenna angles and misaligned directional pointing. Instead of depending on manual operation to change Rick Lober is the Vice President and General Manager of the Defense and Intelligence Systems

Division (DISD) at Hughes Network

Systems, LLC. In this role, he is

responsible for applying the

company’s broad range of

SATCOM technologies and services to the

worldwide defense marketplace and intelligence

community. This includes both fixed Ku, Ka and X

band VSAT and mobilesat products and systems.

Applications cover satellite communications on

the move for both ground based an airborne

platforms along with numerous classified

development programs. He has over 25 years

experience with both COTS-based and full MIL

communications and intelligence products,

systems and major programs starting as a design

engineer and progressing to a P&L executive.

MilsatMagazine Page 32 March 2021 21 - 24 June Rockville, MD

2 SPACE EVENTS IN 1 LOCATION

NSMMS & CRASTE focus on materials research, processing, and manufacturing for space/missiles/hypersonic systems, as well as the systems and processes for accessing and operating in space.

NSMMS CRASTE , Additive Manufacturing for Space & , Advances in Ground System & Missile Materials Range Operations , Development, Processing, & Testing of , Emerging Entry, Descent, and Recovery Advanced Materials Systems & Technologies , Ground & Flight Test Methodologies , Emerging Propulsion Systems , Hypersonics , High Altitude/Sub-Orbital Platforms , Missiles & Missile Defense & Experiments , Mission Operations & Experiments in Space , Innovative Test Methodologies & Platforms , Space Access & Propulsion , Orbital Access for Small Payloads , Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) , Reducing Cost, Increasing Safety, & Integrated System Health Monitoring (ISHM) & Improving Reliability

Attend, Exhibit, Sponsor, or Submit an Abstract www.usasymposium.com/space Feature THE EVOLUTION OF END-TO-END COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDERS

Author: Nate White, Vice President and General Manager, Operating Unit, Peraton

The communications industry is at an inﬂection point where Network satellites — government customers are looking for fully satellite, wired and wireless networks are converging into a integrated managed services that provide lower costs and facilitate ubiquitous capability that will be available to consumers anywhere easier use by government staff. in the world. Many government customers operate in remote areas where a satellite is the only long-range communications solution. Current The military has expressed a desire that satellite communications deployment concepts require multiple operators trained in a fixed (MILSATCOM) be as easy to use as a smart phone and be able to roam number of tailored MILSATCOM systems. This drives up lifecycle costs, just as freely. reduces flexibility of implementing new capabilities, and ties operators The push toward common satellite standards and the advent of Low to specific satellite services. Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations with consumer-friendly terminals has Several recent technology innovations and new business models are driven MILSATCOM toward a commodity service. enabling better satellite access at lower costs... Despite these advances, SATCOM remains largely stove piped • Rapid growth in LEO commercial satellite service across the different fleet owner/operators’ constellations. A customer providers can buy service in LEO, Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO), or Medium • Advent of the first software defined satellites Earth Orbit (MEO); however, an integrated service solution across • Progress in Electronically Steered Array (ESA) multiple constellations and full integration with wired and wireless antennas and smart electronics; networks remains elusive. • Emergence of providers delivering end-to-end Government customers continue to be their own integrators, managed SATCOM services. especially when multiple satellite services are involved. This entails managing a large and complicated supply chain and staffing satellite The current race for commercial LEO SATCOM services promises experts to far-flung locations. high-bandwidth and low latency communications over much of the Peraton supports government and commercial communications for globe at a low cost, including inexpensive and easy to operate user global missions. That includes personnel in 10 different times zones and terminals. Services would start at 50 to 150 megabits per second latitudes — spanning from the Arctic Circle, about 950 miles away from delivered over a 19 inch, electronically steered array user terminals at the North Pole, to Antarctica. monthly prices near those of terrestrial broadband Internet. For example, Peraton supports all mission communications for Until these ambitious and technically challenging constellations NASA: operating 70 meter satellite dishes on three continents in are fully populated, coverage gaps will remain. Even then, most LEO support of the Deep Space Network, flying satellites and managing providers are focusing coverage in regions with the densest the ground stations for communications to the International Space consumer populations, and not more remote areas where Station (ISS), and operating the Near Earth Network, using both government often operates. NASA-owned and commercial stations around the world to service Software defined satellites will provide flexibility and adaptability national and international, government and commercial entities with for a new generation of MEO and GEO satellites launching over the satellites in LEO, GEO, and lunar orbit with multiple frequency bands. next few years. Having virtual onboard electronics enables radios and As a provider of satellite telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C), other electronics to be upgraded and redefined over the life of the communications, operations, and mission management for many U.S. satellite, rather than being limited by hardware delivered at initial government agencies, including the U.S. Space Force, Peraton is launch. This means that satellites, over a 20+ year lifespan, can keep seeing a growing interest in leveraging commercial communications as up with technology changes rather than being completely bound by a managed service to augment, replace, or provide resiliency for the decades-old technology on legacy satellites. government missions. Since many of these missions operate in austere Some of the capabilities to be offered on these satellites include locations, MILSATCOM must be an integral part of that service. adaptive beam reconfiguration to meet changing requirements — for Although the government uses some commercial services today — example, going from broad area coverage to individual spot beams — such as NASA’s use of commercial earth terminals for its Near Earth user managed beams, adaptive interference cancellation, security

MilsatMagazine Page 34 March 2021 service overlays, splitting of beams, and frequency and beam hopping. A Managed Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) will provide end-to-end This opens the opportunity for a service provider to efficiently manage communications, continuous performance management, and service services for many disparate users with one set of satellite resources. provisioning anywhere and anytime. The flexibility to access different Today, many user terminals require an understanding of SATCOM spectrum across several constellations in different orbits with easy-to- mechanics and an involved setup process of pointing, alignment, use terminals and multiple ground gateways and network access are polarization, and power adjustment. These can be difficult for GEO requirements that Peraton is addressing with its government and terminals and completely daunting for the tracking antennas required commercial customers. for LEO or MEO connectivity. Errors in setup can adversely impact the Governments also are looking to access both commercial and data rate and, at worst, cause catastrophic interference for other users government satellite systems via the same service platform. Being an on the same or adjacent satellites. effective MILSATCOM managed service provider requires The new Electronically Steered Array (ESA) user terminals and smart understanding the customer’s mission; strong partnerships with other electronics begin to abstract the complexity of MILSATCOM terminal providers that facilitate the end-to-end service chain; a platform that operations from the end user and operators. can handle the speed, scale, and continual awareness of operations; With continuing governmental budget constraints, the number of and staying abreast of evolving technology drivers. trained MILSATCOM operators and competition for logistics transport Managing a customer’s experience from end user device to to forward areas are driving a larger need for simplicity of operation invoicing is a complicated endeavor with many moving parts. However, and compactness as key attributes for new terminals. ESA and phased in MILSATCOM forums and conferences, commercial and government array terminals are making it easier for users to connect with a few customers frequently express a desire to have the service plan different Ku GEO satellite providers but still require the buyer to put portability, standard interfaces, and ease-of-use enjoyed by cellular together the total solution of terminal, bandwidth, and backhaul. smart phone users worldwide. In addition to antennas, several manufacturers are developing smart Many commercial and government MILSATCOM customers are electronics such as modems and Low-Noise Block (LNB) down starting to see technologies and services that are driving larger converters that can negotiate different proprietary satellite coverage areas, easier to use services, and lower costs. As the market communications protocols within the same device, referred to as develops more managed services, consumers and government users “multilingual” satellite devices. will benefit from an overall better customer experience using SATCOM These advances will also facilitate more flexibility of MILSATCOM anywhere, anytime. band and fleet connectivity for autonomous systems and vehicles, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), submersible Remotely Operated www.peraton.com Vehicles (ROV), and in-flight WiFi systems. These platforms generally have been constrained to one provider given the complexities of Nate White is Vice President and General Manager of Peraton’s Communications integrating the current proprietary solutions. The new antenna and division. He is responsible for delivering commercial telecommunications, electronics innovations, along with a growing push for commercial satellite communications, and integrated services for Peraton’s government, interface standards, will make MILSATCOM more accessible and cost critical infrastructure, and commercial customers. The unit leverages its own effective for consumers and government customers. network and a robust team of partners to support its customers. Despite these advances, a gap remains in delivering multi- spectrum and multi-orbit access as a holistic service. Most satellite fleet owner/operators primarily focus on their own satellite fleets and Earth terminal gateway infrastructure and do not provide full, end-to- end services. Although several of the new LEO broadband providers deliver a vertically integrated solution, they are generally focused on a specific commercial market rather than the range of services used by government. The new technologies and variety of satellite fleets, Earth terminals, and ground networks distributed across the world present the opportunity for a service provider to efficiently integrate and manage a complete set of tailorable satellite services for a range of government and commercial users.

MilsatMagazine Page 35 March 2021 Feature THE SATCOM FAILSAFE FOR BORDER SECURITY Author: Warren Ackerley, Business Development Director, Paradigm

Paradigm’s MANTA in use on a Fast Attack Craft. Image is courtesy of the company

MilsatMagazine Page 36 March 2021 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Ofﬁcers are seizing $14 There are huge benefits to both but what happen, for example, million of hard drugs and weapons in Arizona, while also rescuing when relying on mobile in an area so vast and terrain so harsh that 40 illegal migrants lost in freezing conditions south of Texas. coverage becomes unpredictable? Meanwhile, the Indian Border Security Force has detected a What happens when the large amounts of data handled by a multi- second tunnel instigated in Pakistan purported to facilitate the channel mesh network, needs to be communicated to a central base inﬁltration of terrorists. Plus, a huge cache of arms and ammunition that’s located hundreds of miles away or on the other side of a is seized in Kashmir. mountain range? Isn’t that where fiber plays a role? Possibly, but, the introduction of The resources that support this breadth and complexity of border fiber is subject to very high initial capital expenditure and, as such, security operations all over the world, vary wildly. From people-power needs justifying as a permanent solution. That can be a process that to logistics capability the only factor that’s quite as diverse is the will take a very long time to complete and it will never reach everywhere respective environments. Terrain, weather and political sensitivities all that comms are not just wished for, but absoluteluy required. contribute to an ecosystem in which one size will never ‘fit-all’. While existing telecommunications networks such as 3G, 4G and These circumstances do, however, have something in common: even LTE are the obvious choice for primary communication networks, they’re all critical. If one part of the communications infrastructure in they simply aren’t always available across the vast areas covered by any one of these instances fails, the consequences are serious. In many border security operations. Even where the infrastructure does exist, instances, they could prove to be fatal. large-scale fixed equipment may prove a tempting target for those who In order to understand how critical communications infrastructures seek to threaten the border’s communications capability. should best evolve, it’s important to understand the context in which This is where satellite communications found its place in support of they came to be as they are. As technology has evolved, supporting critical communications. infrastructures tend to have been pieced together through a combination of VHF and mobile networks.

Figure 1. Paradigm’s SWARM in use by a combat camera team.

MilsatMagazine Page 37 March 2021 Figure 2. The Paradigm Interface Module

Satellite communications, in particular VSATs (very small aperture The introduction of simple user interfaces such as PIM® (Paradigm terminals), offer a complementary option. In circumstances where there Interface Module — see Figure 2 above), means that the process of can be no downtime and in many remote areas that would otherwise deploying a satellite terminal has become quick and easy, even for remain unconnected, the adoption of satellite communications is crucial those with no technical knowledge. PIM integrates the router, spectrum to the safeguarding effort. analyser, modem, terminal management and GPS function into a small, How does it achieve this? Often the supporting satellite network ruggedized module. A clear palette of LEDs and three buttons makes is run as a back-up to the primary network: while available, the operation intuitive and easy. backhaul data connection of the surveillance unit is provided by the The ability to have this common interface across all terminal types local infrastructure. significantly reduces the need for training. Field operatives’ familiarity In the background, the satellite terminal connects to the satellite with the single, easy-to-use interface could also save valuable time in a network in preparation to provide a fall-back connection. The checks critical situation. What else makes SATCOM an effective failsafe for and balances performed by the terminal continue to monitor both border security? connections, automatically switching to satellite when terrestrial or Portability is an important factor. With large expanses of land to cellular services become unreliable, or don’t exist. cover, it is not uncommon for border security operations to expand far Users barely notice any changeover because, with state-of-the-art and wide, often moving with the threat. Transport can be by land automatic switching, there is barely any time delay. High-quality, high- vehicle or by air and of course, by boat in coastal areas. throughput service is maintained throughout the operation. This variety means that end-user requirements are very subjective. One of the most exciting developments in this capability, is the ease Where land vehicles are used, being able to load and unload your with which it can now be managed. Doubling the reliability of your solution in a single box presents clear benefits. network no longer means doubling a unit’s technical expertise. In fact, When in the air, space is often limited and requires the ability to it’s become remarkably easy for field operatives. ‘carry on’ an entire terminal to an aircraft, avoiding baggage check-in procedures. When travelling by helicopter, requirements can be more extreme; Paradigm’s ultra-portable SWARM terminal (see Figure 1 on previous page) is designed to be carried as an IATA compliant hand carry solution, or even in a backpack, where the operators need to ensure their hands are free, to disembark or to trek to the final boarder deployment location.

MilsatMagazine Page 38 March 2021 Figure 3. Paradigm’s MANTA in marine use. significant difference to maneuverability and practicality; easy to use on the craft and simply removed for tactical land operations. Flexibility is also becoming increasingly important. As well as VSAT manufacturers needing to offer compatibility with the particular satellite network service to which a border security agency chooses to subscribe, there may be a need to, for example, change frequency bands. Terminals, such as Paradigm’s HORNET (see Figure 4 below), offer the ability to switch between frequency bands in the field, to meet operational requirements. Developing the terminal and related modular components in such a way as to offer this ease of interchangeability, has become a focus in the design and engineering process, led very much by end-user requirements. The challenges presented to border security operations will continue to evolve in size and complexity and so too will the Once in the correct location, the equipment needs to operate in what communications infrastructure on which they depend. Despite this, can be extreme conditions. The term ‘rugged’ is often used to describe there are ways to simplify the end-user experience. capability but, what exactly does that mean and why is it relevant to The technical and environmental capabilities VSAT must border security? demonstrate are tough. Through the correct investment and a track- Because borders span the globe, naturally they extend through record of successful field use, the industry has proven its suitability. desserts, mountains and everything in between. VSAT equipment that Satellite communications will continue to offer a high degree of is truly rugged will operate in these extremes, coping with the certainty and adaptability in critical communications networks. The temperatures that are experienced in the Sahara and the Antarctic. challenge in the 21st century is tailoring solutions to end-user Thoase are two locations you will find Paradigm products today. environments, all the while maintaining familiarity and an exceptional Water penetration, frost and fierce gusts of wind present further ease of use. practical challenges. Of course, there’s the occasional bump. Underpinning this is the need for users to have confidence that the www.paracomm.co.uk equipment will work, which is only achieved through solutions that are field proven and, consistently demonstrate low failure rates. When dealing with border protection at sea or in rivers, securing and maintaining Communications-On-The-Move (COTM) is critical. Warren Ackerley is Business Development Director of Paradigm’s MANTA terminal (see Figure 3 above) has experienced Paradigm. Warren’s 40 years in the global satellite particular interest from operatives who require high speed data communications industry began with the Skynet and NATO throughputs but have to deploy with small craft. A terminal that weighs communication systems in the Royal Air Force. A variety of five times less than some equivalently capable alternatives makes a subsequent senior roles with satellite service providers, manufacturers and integrators across continents, prepared

him to co-found Paradigm in 1997. Warren’s focus on business development has Figure 4. Paradigm’s HORNET during field testing. positioned Paradigm as the go-to for government and military clients who need simple, rugged, portable solutions designed to meet their particular needs.

Paradigm provides state of the art satcom solutions, making satellite

communication simple for everyone. Paradigm’s range of portable, rapidly

deployable terminals are complemented by the PIM® user interface, a

rugged, easy to use platform that’s compatible with all major modems and

terminals. Paradigm’s response time and flexibility, have satisfied the most

demanding of end user requirements across military, government, NGO,

commercial and enterprise clients for 25 years. Exceptional levels of reliability

and adaptability make Paradigm the natural SATCOM partner for those

operating in critical conditions.

MilsatMagazine Page 39 March 2021 Feature

Taking The Tactical Cloud With You...

High Speed, Secure Networking At The Edge Of The Battlefield

Author: Charlie Kawasaki, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions

To maintain warfighter overmatch, the US military must deploy advanced technologies for situational awareness to the edge of the battlefield.

In order to better coordinate deployed forces and enable new capabilities, the US Army, Air Force, and Navy are actively looking to new programs to ensure warfighters have maximum agility and situational awareness. These programs will deliver a variety of compute and bandwidth intensive technologies, increasing the use of video, big data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, for example, to deliver the command and control information that warfighters need to coordinate their activities. The software needed to run these new capabilities is increasingly being developed to run in the cloud, which itself might reside in range of data centers, ranging from the large commercial services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud and Microsoft Azure Government, or the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Regional Hub Nodes (RHN), located in five separate strategic regions and used by deployed U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army units to access transport information from theater tactical networks around the world. As forces develop greater dependence on cloud-based services, what happens when wide area access to the cloud becomes denied due to

MilsatMagazine Page 40 March 2021 contested communications through electronic warfare (EW), or The Navy recently issued an RFP to industry to support Manned- diminished due to reduced bandwidth? Unmanned Air Vehicle Team Tactical Cloud analysis, including an The key to delivering advanced new tactical capabilities and approach for providing remotely deployed cloud or processing services ensuring their continued availability if there’s no access to the cloud is in case the tactical unit becomes temporarily disconnected from the to vastly increase the capability, speed and mobility of networking and tactical network. compute at the edge of the battlefield. That will make possible the A key requirement for realizing the promise of mobile data centers replication of critical data and services in mobile clouds. at the battlefield edge that can support the firehose of data associated As compute and bandwidth hungry applications, such as video and with cutting edge applications, such as augmented reality and AI/ML AI/ML, proliferate to support battlefield operations, processing needs based network cybersecurity, is the availability of a small form factor to happen locally at maximum speeds. To enable the next generation high-speed network switch. of situational awareness capabilities the DoD is looking to deploy cloud The good news is that recent technology breakthroughs now make replication between remote computing nodes to provide continuity of it possible to deploy rugged, small factor 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) operations in the case of network outages or low bandwidth solutions that deliver the increased network speeds and data security Examples of these programs include the US Army Cross Functional required by next generation compute and network hungry applications. Team’s CPI-2 which is currently developing prototypes of its Command This also means that the replication of server data becomes a practical Post Support Vehicle (CPSV), essentially a mobile data center that in reality, enabling the warfighter to have access to a copy of the cloud, future iterations could support local cloud. CPSV is a rugged truck that hosted on mobile data centers, in the event that the main cloud carries a small data center’s worth of servers. Likewise, the Army Future becomes inaccessible. Command has published a roadmap that specifies requirements for Previous, network switch offerings lacked either the speed, being robust cloud capabilities. limited to 1 GbE performance, lacked the ruggedization needed for The US Air Force is developing the Advanced Battle Management deployed environments, or were too large and heavy to optimize their System (ABMS), a federated cloud system that will provide secure fielding. All of that changed recently with the introduction by Cisco of processing from a security cloud it refers to as CloudONE, already their new ten-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch designed for onboard running in Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure government clouds. It mission-critical tactical mobile communications. also defines a local cloud, EdgeONE, to provide continued security in case communications with CloudONE are disconnected.

MilsatMagazine Page 41 March 2021 This hardened switch module, based on Cisco’s latest ESS 9300 and capabilities conforming to standards such as FIPS-140 and technology, has a -40-85 C operating temperature that delivers optimal Common Criteria. performance in extreme harsh environments. Measuring 110mm x An example of a DoD-ready solution based on the new Cisco 10 85mm, the compact module requires only 35W of power. GbE switch is Curtiss-Wright’s recently introduced PacStar 448 Additionally, Cisco’s proven track record delivering COTS solutions module. Housed in a fully rugged casing, the PacStar 448 adds the that meet extensive DoD cybersecurity requirements continues with military interconnects and features, such as support for running on this new switch. Security features include Cisco’s TrustSec, Secure military standard batteries, that make it ideal for deployment in mobile Boot and authentication, authorization and accounting features to data centers. identify and restrict users, all the while measuring their usage while Curtiss-Wright was closely involved in the development of the accessing resources — and like all Cisco products offered to US DoD, solution from the early stages of its design, and collaborated on early Cisco plans to fully certify the solution’s cryptographic implementations engineering samples to ensure that military performance requirements were successfully met. The PacStar 448 plugs directly into the widely deployed PacStar Modular Data Center (see photo on the following page), a tactical and expeditionary rugged data center capable of hosting mission command, cloud/storage, sensor fusion, AI and analytics applications. PacStar MDC supports hyper- converged infrastructure, cloud replication and high-speed network- based tactical communications at the edge of the battlefield — using PacStar 448 as the network infrastructure enabling high speed data replication.

PacStar 448

MilsatMagazine Page 42 March 2021 Charlie Kawasaki joined

PacStar, now a Curtiss-

Wright subsidiary, in

early 2005 to lead the

company’s technology

strategy and future

product roadmap for its proprietary

product lines. Charlie currently leads

PacStar strategic initiatives –

investigating and developing new

integrated solutions and technologies

to meet customer needs, in particular,

focused on areas such as Commercial

Solutions for Classified (CSfC),

The PacStar Modular Data Center. Cybersecurity, and Edge Computing.

Charlie works closely with technology The advent of rugged size, weight and power optimized 10 GigE and product teams from our largest partners to create joint solutions, networking hardware packaged for deployment in harsh environments leveraging PacStar core technologies to create optimal tactical and will deliver the secure, high-speed data replication capability needed expeditionary solutions. Charlie also serves as a technical and product to realize the DoD’s vision of mobile cloud computing. evangelist raising awareness for PacStar solutions in the company’s target When radio links to the RHN, Command Post or Tactical Operations markets and customers. Centers become severed or diminished, warfighters will maintain their Charlie has extensive experience in product development, software access to the critical new situational awareness technologies and engineering, technology licensing, patent development, business capabilities that provide them with force multiplier superiority. development, product marketing, general management and M&A. Charlie has more than 35 years experience in early stage technology companies, creating Now, the tactical cloud can go where the warfighter goes. dozens of software products for Internet infrastructure, cybersecurity, PC www.curtisswrightds.com management, and relational databases. Charlie served as CEO of RuleSpace, Inc., which created AI-based Internet

parental controls applications used by companies such as AOL, Yahoo and

Microsoft. Before RuleSpace, he held

product development and engineering

management roles at companies

including The Palace, Inc., Creative

Multimedia Corp., Central Point

Software, Inc., Asymetrix Corp. and

Microrim, Inc. In 2019, he was named

Outstanding Industry Collaborator by

Oregon State University.

pacstar.com

Opening image is courtesy of Daniel Balaure@danielbalaure

MilsatMagazine Page 43 March 2021 Feature

Photo of SES O3b satellites, courtesy of Marie Ange Sanguy

GOVERNMENT SATELLITE REPORT DoD Doubles Down On MEO Satellite To Meet Critical Connectivity Requirements

Author: Ryan Schradin, Executive Editor

As IT modernization and digital transformation initiatives continue The integrated nature of this new hardware solution makes it easy to to introduce new, mission-critical military applications to the tactical airlift, forklift or tow to wherever connectivity is needed and requires edge, and as the Department of Defense (DoD) increasingly nothing but a power source to deliver a veritable bubble of 5G or WiFi embraces network-enabled and connected platforms and vehicles connectivity to network-enabled solutions, platforms and vehicles at in theater, the need to extend high-throughput, low-latency the tactical edge. connectivity to the battleﬁeld has become essential. According to SES, this new solution features a, “…self-contained ruggedized design [that] houses all equipment in a rack system with Recently, the DoD took important steps towards securing that AC unit, power distribution, and a battery backup system and can connectivity when the agency announced two key satellite service and achieve upwards of 400 Mbps x 200 Mbps of throughput over the hardware acquisitions that will open the door to ubiquitous O3b network.” communications virtually anywhere on the planet. As Brigadier General Pete Hoene, USAF (retired), The DoD announced that SES Government (SES GS) had awarded the President and CEO of SES GS, explained, “The a task order against its existing, single-award, Blanket Purchase need to provide resilient and diverse satellite Agreement (BPA) for the purchase of the company’s new, portable, communications is critical to meeting Department of maritime solution. This integrated, self-contained hardware solution will Defense SATCOM requirements. This…turnkey MEO enable the DoD to easily and seamlessly deliver high-throughput, low- terminal…can be scaled up or down based on the latency connectivity to ships at sea, docks as well as forward operating number of users and support requirements. The Pete Hoene bases via the SES O3b MEO satellite constellation. demonstrated throughput is unsurpassed in a portable maritime system of this size.”

MilsatMagazine Page 44 March 2021 where there is no reliable terrestrial connectivity, and we’re excited to bring innovative and secure solutions via satellite to solve their problems.” The need for connectivity at the edge continues to increase as the military embraces advanced, network-enabled vehicles, systems, platforms, and weapons systems. These new DoD announcements illustrate how essential the military views network connectivity for future mission and operations as well as the continued importance and reliance on satellite services and offerings to meet those connectivity requirements. The DoD use cases for this new mobile solution are almost For additional information on the new, portable maritime solution numerous to count — from enabling morale, welfare and recreation being embraced by the DoD, select this direct link. For additional (MWR) capabilities aboard ships at sea, to the establishment of information on the recently announced loopback configuration, select fully-connected, IT-enabled field hospitals with telemedicine this direct link. capability in warzones. However, the task order for this new mobile solution was just one This article ﬁrst appeared on GovSat and is republished with of the major satellite announcements delivered by the DoD and SES permission of SES-GS. with the potential to deliver a more connected warfighter. SES then announced that the company was working in partnership ses-gs.com with a “key U.S. Government customer” to design, develop and field a loopback capability that would, “…provide greatly improved mission- critical communications for DoD operations in remote locations in Southwest Asia.” Acquired via another task order issued against the existing, single- Ryan Schradin is the Executive Editor of GovSat Report. A award BPA with the DoD, the implementation of this loopback communications expert and journalist with over a decade of configuration enables the DoD to use SES O3b MEO high-throughput, experience, Ryan has edited and contributed to multiple low-latency connectivity without the use of a commercial gateway. This popular online trade publications focused on government is accomplished by leveraging, “…an in-theatre hub that provides in- technology, satellite, unified communications and network beam connectivity, similar to a hub-spoke configuration, and is infrastructure. His work includes editing and writing for the managed and controlled from an SES Network Operations Centre GovSat Report, The Modern Network, Public Sector View, (NOC) via a Skala Network terminal.” and Cloud Sprawl. His work for the GovSat Report includes editing content, The adoption of this loopback configuration and the continued use establishing editorial direction, contributing articles about satellite news and of the SES O3b MEO satellite service will act as a bridge to enable trends, and conducting both written and podcast interviews. Ryan also warfighters that are off-grid and operating at the tip of the spear in contributes to the publication’s industry event and conference coverage, Southwest Asia to still access important communications, intelligence providing in-depth reporting from leading satellite shows. information, and network-enabled platforms and applications. “The growing threat within the region requires the troops to have access to near real-time decision-making intelligence at the tactical edge. This mission requires high-throughput, low-latency connectivity that only our O3b MEO constellation can provide flexibly,” explained Hoene. ”We understand these troops’ mission requirements in areas

MilsatMagazine Page 45 March 2021 Feature

Space Surveillance Telescope To Assist In Space Domain Awareness (SDA)

Space and Missile Systems Center Led A Three-Year International partnership Effort to Move SST To Australia

Space Surveillance Telescope Image is courtesy of U.S.A.F., David Salanitri.

MilsatMagazine Page 46 March 2021 Thanks to a three-year effort by the Space and Missile Systems associated with the space domain that could affect space operations Center, academic and industry partners and an international and thereby impact the security, safety, economy or environment of the partnership between the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and United States. the Australian Department of Defence, a unique deep-space This includes everything from monitoring existing satellites and monitoring telescope will soon be scanning deep space from its larger space hardware such as the International Space Station (ISS); new home in Western Australia. detecting and mapping new artificial objects in space; predicting when and where a space object may reenter Earth’s atmosphere; The Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) is a tracking space debris; monitoring for incoming missiles and making ground-based telescope designed for the rapid, sure re-entering space debris or meteors are not mistaken for search, detection and tracking of dim objects in incoming missiles. deep space, mainly in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), “What we’re trying to do is understand the location of the objects approximately 22,236 miles above the Earth) said we’re looking at, and determine whether that object has either moved Jon Hutfilz, Odyssey Systems contract program or degraded or some other factor,” Hutfilz said. “We want to keep an manager for SST at SMC, which coordinated the eye on space assets and identify any threats — debris or other things move and provided support operations. John Hutfilz — that would cause a problem. The speeds at which things move out “The SST is a tremendously important tool for there are really, really fast and even a small piece of debris could hit maintaining Space Domain Awareness, which is one of our assets in a way that would be devastating, and would then critical not just for the U.S. Space Force, but for our create more debris. military, scientific and academic partners around the “If we start losing GPS satellites, it will severely impact the way the world,” said Lt. Gen. John F. Thompson, SMC United States runs its daily business,” Hutfilz continued. “From ATM Commander and Program Executive Officer for machines, credit card transactions, e-commerce or anything else that Lt. Gen. John F. Space. “Thanks to the combined efforts of SMC, the GPS provides the timing for, all those things will come to a halt and Thompson DoD, the Australian Department of Defense and the we’ll revert back to a lack of technology we haven’t seen in my lifetime.” Royal Australian Air Force, MIT-Lincoln Laboratory The SST was originally constructed as a Defense Advanced Research and L3 Harris, the U.S. Space Surveillance Network will now have critical Projects Agency (DARPA) advanced technology demonstrator at the coverage in the Southern Hemisphere.” Atom site on the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico between Space Domain Awareness (SDA) is one of the important missions 2002 and 2011 by MIT-Lincoln Laboratory and L3 Brashear (now of the U.S. Space Force and is defined as the identification, L3Harris). In 2017, it was turned over to the U.S. Air Force to operate characterization and understanding of any factor, passive or active, as a dedicated sensor of the U.S. Space Surveillance Network.

The enclosure for the Space Surveillance Telescope was provided by the Australian government. Photo is courtesy of Aus Def Media.

MilsatMagazine Page 47 March 2021 The SST is the largest of the ground-based telescopes used for Space Domain Awareness, Hutfilz said. Although the SST started out as a prototype, once it had demonstrated its military value, the DoD determined it would be more effective scanning the skies in the southern hemisphere and the decision was made to move the telescope to Australia. Moving a 261,850-pound telescope from New Mexico to Australia

The SST’s Telescope Mount Gimbal (TMG) being lifted into the SST Facility near Exmouth, Western Australia. Photo is courtesy of MIT-Lincoln Laboratory

The Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) operates 24-hours a day, 7-days a week collecting metric and Space Object Identification data for man-made orbiting objects without the disruption of weather, time of day and atmosphere that can limit ground- based systems. SBSS has a clear and unobstructed view of resident space objects orbiting earth from its 390-mile altitude orbit. (Image courtesy of Boeing)

was a complicated process. First, the telescope was carefully

disassembled and packed onto trucks and taken to a seaport in The Space Surveillance Telescope Azimuth Base is lifted into the new SST facility in Galveston, Texas, Hutfilz said. From there, it was loaded onto ships and Exmouth, Western Australia. Photo courtesy of MIT-Lincoln Laboratory taken through the Panama Canal and then to the seaport at Freemantle, Australia, and then transported by truck 1,200 kilometers north to Exmouth, in Western Australia, where it was reassembled in a brand- new facility built by the Australian government. “This was about 17 truckloads of very delicate material,” Hutfilz said. “The telescope’s primary mirror is 3.5 meters in diameter and required extreme care in handling. With a program impact of five years and $30 million dollars, every possible precaution was taken.” As the SST was originally a prototype system that the USAF inherited, SMC needed to change it to an operational system, which included upgrading the hardware and software so it could be operated and maintained in Australia and improving the cybersecurity to prevent any attempts to disrupt operations. About a dozen people from SMC in Los Angeles and Colorado The SST’s Primary Mirror lifted through the Observation Floor Hatch in the new Australian Springs, including support from the Aerospace Corporation and facility. Photo is courtesy of MIT-Lincoln Laboratory, MITRE, worked on the project, Hutfilz said.

MilsatMagazine Page 48 March 2021 “Over the past several years Australia’s role in the SDA mission has continued to grow,” said Gordon Kordyak, SMC Space Domain Awareness Chief. Gordon Kordyak “Their overall support as a SDA partner has been nothing short of phenomenal. Starting with the C-Band Radar, and now with the Space Surveillance Telescope, Australia’s steadfast investment and commitment continues to be a true catalyst for the SDA mission’s progress and success. We deeply value and appreciate Australia’s partnership as we prepare to jointly deliver the world’s fastest searching The SST, fully assembled in its new Australian facility. Photo is courtesy of MIT-Lincoln Laboratory telescope in the interest of protecting our joint defense, civil, economic and academic MIT-Lincoln Laboratory and L3 Harris were partners on interests in outer space.” the disassembly process; L3 Harris originally The design of the SST facility was based largely on the original SST constructed the telescope. Lincoln Laboratory was the facility in New Mexico and adjusted to suit Australian conditions, system integrator and also developed several key including ensuring that the facility was designed to withstand cyclones, subsystems including the focal plane, camera, as well Gillman said. as the processing and control hardware and software, During the design phase of the facility, lessons learned from the Dr. Grant Stokes according to Dr. Grant Stokes, head of the Space activities conducted in New Mexico and the issues encountered by the Systems and Technology Division at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. facility there were applied to improve on the original design and to The Australian government built the new facility for the SST, which allow for ongoing sustainment of the capability, Gillman said. was completed in May of 2020. Although the deconstruction, transport These changes included a redesign of the observatory bogey and and reconstruction of the telescope was a U.S. led activity, the track system to materially reduce the degradation of those components. Australian Department of Defence collaborated closely with the U.S. Also, the height and diameter of the observatory was increased and a Air Force and U.S. Space Force, providing advice on Australian law and larger crane as included within the observatory to allow for the policy ensuring a smooth passage into the country, noted Group movement of the large component telescope internal to the facility Captain Andrew Gillman, Royal Australian Air Force. during maintenance cycles, Gillman said. Once the telescope arrived in Exmouth, local maintenance personnel The SST achieved “first light” — the first time a telescope is used were on hand to assist the U.S. team with the integration effort. to take an astronomical image after it has been assembled — in March “The Space Surveillance Telescope project has truly been an of 2020 and will become fully operational in 2022, providing data for amazing partnership between Australia and the United States with the the U.S., Australia and their allies. The Royal Australian Air Force will overall project extending far beyond the three-year telescope movement operate the SST in coordination with the USSF Space Delta 2. activity and will continue on into the future,” Gillman said. “I am The SST is a three-mirror Mersenne-Schmidt design — the largest constantly meeting people who were involved at one point or another. ever built — with a 3.5 meter aperture and a 6 square degree field of The genuine collaboration between the Australian and U.S. teams has view for wide field surveillance. It is an f/1 telescope, meaning that the been the foundation stone of the success of this project. The strength ratio from the aperture to the focal length is equal. In another first, the of the relationship set up the project well to handle the challenges of camera’s CCD focal plane is curved, not flat and can produce tens of the Covid pandemic.” thousands of observations per night, consisting of new objects previously unseen by any other space surveillance network sensor.

MilsatMagazine Page 49 March 2021 The SST was the 6th largest telescope in the United States and will Space is not a benign environment but is, instead, occupied by an become Australia’s second largest, Hutfilz said. increasingly large number of satellites, natural objects such as asteroids “The SST program was intended to demonstrate new telescope and debris from satellites and rocket launches, Gillman commented, technology with some very aggressive optics,” Stokes said. “As adding this congested environment poses a threat to satellites that telescope apertures tend to get larger, the field of view tends to provide services we all rely upon, including GPS, mobile phones, collapse. Astronomers who have built very large telescopes end up with internet and TV[1]. a soda-straw piece of the sky that’s accessible. The SST was built with Globally, the private and public space industry is worth more than a large aperture to get sensitivity quickly and a wide field of view – it is $400 billion, estimated to grow to $1 trillion by 2040; the SST will unlike any other telescope previously built.” contribute to the protection of space services and the space economy Hutfilz added: “Now take that soda straw and make it a windshield by enabling observation of small, dim objects that pose a threat to point of view from your car — we end up being able to scan the sky active satellites. Scientifically, NASA uses SST observations for the above the SST several times in the night and we’re able to do that purpose of planetary defense, monitoring the locations of near-Earth very rapidly.” asteroids and comets, Gillman added. “The SST is intended to search the area called deep space by the The telescope’s former facility in New Mexico is still there, but there DoD,” Stokes explained. “One of those orbits is called geosynchronous are no plans at present to install another telescope, Hutfilz said. (GEO) which is a very important orbit to cover. GEO is a special orbit The USSF also has the Space Fence, a space-surveillance radar site where the orbital period is exactly 24 hours. In that orbit, satellites tend located on the Kwajalein Island in the Republic of Marshall Islands. The to ‘hang’ over a static, equatorial area of the planet. That single satellite Space Fence, which became operational in 2020, is another ground- can address maybe a third of the planet surface, so it’s very important based radar system that is primarily focused on tracking objects in Low real estate.” Earth Orbit (LEO, about 1,200 miles above Earth.) Data collected by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network — including the SST — is analyzed by the 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg AFB and assessed for any potential threats to space assets. If a threat is identified, the owners of those assets are notified so they can be moved.

The USSF’s Space and Missile Systems Center, located at the Los Angeles Air

Force Base in El Segundo, California, is the center of excellence for acquiring

and developing military space systems. SMC’s portfolio includes space launch,

global positioning systems, military satellite communications, a defense

meteorological satellite control network, range systems, space-based infrared

systems, and space situational awareness capabilities. Contact

[email protected] and follow on LinkedIn.

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs —Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space cover image.

MilsatMagazine Page 50 March 2021 Keeping Track Of Space Debris

The vast domain of outer space is mostly empty. One real-life example is when China in 2007 tested a Low

Earth Oorbiting anti-satellite weapon that created a

However, more than 60 years of space launches have left the Earth ringed with substantial amount of debris — much of which is still in orbit,

dead satellites from multiple space-faring nations, abandoned launch stages McClintock said. By 2016, less than 600 of the estimated

and broken-down components from assorted space vehicles. 3,500 fragments had fallen out of orbit, leaving 2,900

fragments still on orbit.

This debris poses an increasing threat to the ever-increasing number of Richard Mason satellites and other space vehicles launched in various orbits around the Earth. How much debris is circling the Earth? Estimates vary. The

While launches today are planned to reduce the amount of new space debris, European Space Agency (ESA) estimates there are about 34,000 objects

no one solution has been developed to remove the existing debris. greater than 10 cm, 900,000 objects from 1 cm to 10 cm and 128 million

objects between 1 mm and 1 cm orbiting the Earth as of January 2021.

“The Space Domain is a natural resource that, just like the

Earth’s terrestrial environment, needs to be preserved for “These are objects that are travelling at 17,500 miles an hour at

future generational use,” said Gordon Kordyak, SMC Space the low end, in terms of their velocity, and their velocity also

Domain Awareness Chief. determines their altitude,” said Peter Whitehead, a senior

engineer with RAND. “Orbital characteristics also depend on

“One of our core responsibilities in the U.S. Space Force is to how dense an object is. So a piece of titanium may remain on

provide public services that facilitate the tracking of objects (be orbit longer than a paint ﬂake or a piece of Styrofoam moving Gordon Kordyak they natural or man-made) on orbit,” Kordyak added. “Tracking initially at the same speed. There are lots of variables in terms of

these objects to minimize on-orbit collisions directly allows us to maximize the size, velocity, orbit and possible impact.” Peter Whitehead

lifespan of our high value space assets, regardless if they support the defense, civil,

commercial, or international communities. “The times we would bring a piece of hardware back with the space shuttle, it

would have hundreds if not thousands of dents where it was bombarded with

“Understanding the pervasiveness and nature of on-orbit debris directly small pieces of space debris,” said J.D. Harrington, public affairs ofﬁcer for

inﬂuences our understanding of risk when operating in outer space,” Kordyak NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Ofﬁce.

said. “Even a small ﬂeck of paint can cause damage to our satellites when it is

traveling a tens of thousands of miles an hour. While we do everything we can In 2016, a 7 mm dent was discovered in one of the windows of the International

to provide systems that are capable enough to inform, and help avoid, the Space Station and was thought to have been caused by a collision with a piece

many, many millions of debris objects in outer space, working to minimize the of space debris — possibly a paint chip ̛ no more than a few thousands of a

amount of debris we create in the ﬁrst place is a key strategy to keep the millimeter across, according to NASA and the ESA.

different orbit regimes of outer space usable into the future.”

“Much of the space debris is in LEO where the relative orbital

The RAND Corporation, a nonproﬁt, nonpartisan research velocities in a collision can be quite large. Thus, there’s a

organization, has established the Space Enterprise Initiative much greater risk for two objects colliding to create a huge

to better connect space-related ideas and people. Four fragmentation spray,” said Dr. Grant Stokes, head of the

RAND experts, including the organization’s Bruce Space Systems and Technology Division at MIT-Lincoln

McClintock, public policy analyst and lead for the initiative, Laboratory. “In geosynchronous orbit (GEO,) since most

recently discussed some of the public policy issues things are orbiting in the same direction, the relative orbital Dr. Grant Stokes

surrounding space debris. velocities are generally much lower, so collisions are more

Bruce McClintock likely to be akin to highway speed car crashes.”

The 2013 movie “Gravity” depicted a ﬁctional catastrophic chain

event that begins when Russians shoot down a defunct satellite. This, in turn, “It’s much less expensive to put something into a LEO because the fuel

sets off an expanding cloud of space debris that goes on to destroy a space required to get it to that point in space is less than in most cases, for the same

shuttle, the Hubble Telescope and numerous communication satellites. amount of weight,” McClintock said. “It’s also kind of a parking space issue —

both literally and ﬁguratively. There are many more options where you can use

While it’s not impossible for something like that to happen — NASA engineer a LEO, based on the orbital mechanics, to perform missions than in GEO,

Don Kessler famously proposed a cascading,exponential debris effect from a which requires more fuel to deliver the payload and is more carefully controlled.

collision in LEO), the Kessler Syndrome, as early as 1978 — it probably would

take place over days or weeks, not hours, said Richard Mason, a senior

engineer at RAND who has done extensive space debris modeling.

MilsatMagazine Page 51 March 2021 When it comes to planning a launch, “It’s relatively straightforward to plan for Access these sites for additional information...

the items you know about, but there are plenty of items you don’t know about,” USSF: Spacepower: Doctrine for Space Forces McClintock said. “If everything is cataloged, then it’s just a math and NASA Best Practices Handbook to Help Improve Space Safety engineering problem, to plan around the things that are in the catalog; it’s not

much different than air trafﬁc control. U.S. Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices

“The challenge is: there are a lot of things that are untracked, and that’s a risk USCUSA UCS Satellite Database

you have to account for. It’s the air domain equivalent of a bird strike. You may United Nations — Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on have filed your flight plan, you may have planned for a place where there’s no the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space activity, but then that random bolt that the astronaut let go or the paint flake that https://www.space-track.org is slowly degrading its orbital altitude ends up running into the platform.”

Then there are the legal issues. The global commons of

space is governed by five treaties including the United

Nations’ Outer Space Treaty, but there’s no enforcement

mechanism, said Doug Ligor, senior behavioral/social scientist at RAND.

Doug Ligor

“One of the unique things about space is that everything you

send up, basically, the launching nation is responsible for,” Ligor said. “The

problem becomes when you send things up and they become debris, how do

you assess duty-and-care or liability to something you can’t identify? I don’t

know whose wrench that is, I don’t know who the bolt belongs to. If you do that

a thousand times over, it becomes a real problem.”

Currently, the focus is on mitigation of “new’ space debris, rather than

remediation of existing debris, Stokes said. “When a LEO satellite nears the

end of its life, its operators may ﬁre rockets to slow it down so it can fall to

earth and burn up in earth’s atmosphere. Satellites at the end of their useful life

in GEO orbits are often boosted to a higher, graveyard orbit to free up valuable

space real estate. However, objects in the graveyard orbit could potentially stay

up there for thousands of years. While this is not a problem now, it could be in

the future.”

Companies and governments globally recognize that space debris is a growing

problem, as evidenced by increased emphasis on debris mitigation standards

and business case analyses generated by companies looking to either

generate debris removal systems or ﬁeld systems that can extend the life of

satellites on orbit, McClintock said.

For example, ESA’s ClearSpace-1 project is planning to launch a

demonstration project in 2025 to remove an item of space debris in LEO,

Whitehead said. Solar sails that would deploy and take a defunct satellite out of

GEO and into a graveyard orbit are another option.

“The challenge in space is that one man’s debris removal platform is another’s

anti-satellite weapon,” McClintock added. “Because if your robotic satellite can

go up there with an arm and grab a piece of space junk and then descend into

a lower orbit, the same piece of equipment could be used — in theory —– to

disrupt an active satellite. It’s more than a matter of ‘Well, we need to buy a

ﬂeet of trash trucks for space.’”

MilsatMagazine Page 52 March 2021