WASHINGTON - The U.S. Space Force has decided that its military communications satellites could use a bit more backbone, awarding Viasat and SES a combined $437.6 million to build a new network that's better at shrugging off jamming and cyber attacks. Because nothing says 'secure communications' like a satellite that can tell a hacker to get bent.
The contracts, announced May 22, fall under the Protected Tactical Satcom-Global program (PTS-G for those who love acronyms), which aims to swap out big, juicy targets for a swarm of smaller, commercially-derived satellites parked in geostationary orbit. The idea is that if one satellite gets taken out, the rest can pick up the slack - like a team of ants, but with more X-band frequencies.
The Pentagon didn't say exactly how many satellites are in this first batch, but budget documents from last month reveal that 'Swarm 1' will consist of four spacecraft, with Viasat and SES each building two. They're due by March 2029, so mark your calendars for a new era of resilient space-based communications.
The satellites will operate on X-band and military Ka-band frequencies, because apparently regular Wi-Fi just won't cut it for military operations. Viasat and SES were chosen from a pool of five companies - including Astranis, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman - that were picked in July to develop demonstration payloads. Last year, a Viasat executive spilled the beans that their design uses tech from the Viasat-3 broadband constellation, because why reinvent the satellite?
And if you think this is a one-and-done deal, think again: Pentagon documents also outline a second procurement round in 2028 for four more PTS-G satellites, scheduled to launch in 2031. Because if one swarm is good, two swarms are better.