Space Force Looks to Commercial Tech for New Tactical SATCOM Solution

Weeks after canceling a major satellite communications program, the Space Force announced contracts July 29 with five companies to showcase how their commercial designs could meet military requirements in the Protected Tactical Service-Global program.

PTS-G is envisioned as a constellation of small satellites in geosynchronous orbit that possess anti-jamming capabilities and offer a secure communications link worldwide.

Space Systems Command, the Space Force’s main acquisition arm, awarded contracts totaling $37.5 million to Viasat, Northrop Grumman, Astranis, Intelsat, and Boeing. All five will “mature a design and provide demonstrations based upon their established commercial product lines,” SSC said in a statement.  

A winning bidder will be selected in 2026, according to a release. Details in the service’s 2026 budget request indicate that first contract will include four space vehicles, two for operating in Ka-band and two using X-band. Launches are envisioned for 2028, with a second round of satellite contracts expected that year and subsequent launches in 2031. 

According to budget documents, PTS-G will provide “a moderate degree of assured access communications” using “sets of lower-complexity satellites.” 

Lower complexity appears to mean using commercial technology as a baseline. “Our PTS-G contract transforms how SSC acquires SATCOM capability for the warfighter,” said Cordell DeLaPena Jr., program executive officer for military communications and positioning, navigation, and timing. “The incorporation of commercial baseline designs to meet military capability significantly enhances the Space Force’s speed and efficiency to add capability to meet emerging threats.” 

PTS-G will complement both existing Wideband Global SATCOM spacecraft and commercial SATCOM constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink. 

Initially, it was also envisioned as complementing an even more secure SATCOM constellation called PTS-R, for Resilient. Northrop Grumman and Boeing had both been tapped to launch prototypes in 2026, but Space Systems Command cancelled the planned $2 billion PTS-R program earlier this summer.  

Indeed, the entire military satellite communications enterprise is in a state of change. The Space Development Agency is developing hundreds of data transport and communications satellites for low-Earth orbit, and the Space Force revealed a secretive new MILNET program in its budget request “that will provide global, integrated, and resilient capabilities across the Combat Power, Global Mission Data Transport, and Satellite Communications mission areas,” according to a spokesperson. USSF’s Commercial Space Office, which handles requests from across the Pentagon, has aggressively expanded its contract pool for commercial satellite communications. 

Separately, the Space Force has also awarded a contract to Boeing to build up to four satellites for Evolved Strategic SATCOM, a new constellation of four satellites to be placed in “proliferated” orbits. That system, one of the biggest in the Space Force budget, would replace the Advanced Extremely High Frequency constellation that was fielded in the 2010s.