Space Force Picks Northrop to Build Enhanced Jam-Resistent SATCOM Prototype

The Space Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $398 million contract to design and build a communications satellite prototype with advanced anti-jam and data processing capabilities. 

The service announced the contract for the Enhanced Protected Tactical SATCOM-Prototype program, or Enhanced PTS-P, May 15, and said the satellite will launch no sooner than fiscal 2030. 

“Enhanced PTS-P represents another important step in delivering more resilient, protected communications capabilities to the joint force,” Erin Carper, acting Space Force portfolio acquisition executive for satellite communications and positioning, navigation, and timing, said in a statement. “This capability will help ensure tactical users can operate with greater confidence in contested environments.”

The company has already built one satellite as part of the Space Force’s baseline PTS-P program. In 2020, the service awarded Northrop and Boeing contracts to prototype jam-resistant, secure tactical communication spacecraft, which are slated to launch this year. 

Enhanced PTS-P is an expansion of that work in two ways. First, the Space Force says that the prototype will carry advanced antennas and space-based processing, without specifying what those will entail. When asked, Northrop did not describe those additional capabilities in detail, but offered that the satellite will be powered by the company’s GEOStar-3 bus, which it said provides “greater launch flexibility.”

“PTS-P established Northrop Grumman’s foundational capability for resilient, anti-jam tactical military satellite communications combining onboard processing with advanced beamforming techniques and a cyber secure C2 architecture,” the company said in a statement. “Enhanced PTS-P builds on that foundation by adding a second free flyer PTS-P satellite with anti-jam enhancements that deliver even greater resiliency, mission performance, and operational effectiveness.”

Along with capability improvements, the service is also taking an iterative development approach to the effort, using procurement authorities like Middle-Tier Acquisition, a tool that allows it to avoid traditional processes to deliver a system faster. 

“Enhanced PTS-P pairs innovative technology with an acquisition approach designed to move faster and deliver protected SATCOM capabilities where they are needed most,” Mozhdeh Najafabadi, PTS-P system program manager, said in the statement. “That combination is essential as we acquire and employ more resilient space capabilities.”

According to budget documents, the Space Force plans to spend $166 million on Enhanced PTS-P in fiscal 2027. It expects Northrop’s prototype to pass a critical design review, then start satellite manufacturing and testing, all in fiscal ‘27. The budget request also calls for $79 million for the baseline PTS-P effort to support the two satellites’ launch and demonstration and another $16 million for ground system integration and early operations. 

PTS-P falls under the broader Protected Tactical SATCOM Family of Systems, which includes satellites, an encrypted waveform, ground control systems, and a joint Army-Air Force anti-jam modem project. In fiscal ‘27, the Space Force is requesting about $450 million across those efforts and plans to spend $2 billion through fiscal ‘31. 

That includes about $150 million in fiscal ‘27 for another prototype effort called PTS-Global, which is the service’s attempt to bridge the gap between more focused tactical SATCOM needs and the less secure communications provided by commercial constellations. Last July, the Space Force awarded initial PTS-G contracts to five companies—a mix of traditional defense primes Boeing and Northrop, commercial providers Viasat and Intelsat, and venture-backed Astranis.

All of these prototype efforts will inform the Space Force’s future tactical SATCOM plans, which it expects to kick off in fiscal ‘28 with the reintroduction of an effort called PTS-Resilient. The service canceled a planned source selection for PTS-R last summer, opting instead to invest in Enhanced PTS-P as an incremental step toward that more resilient architecture. Budget documents indicate PTS-R will restart in fiscal ‘28 to transition these various demonstrations into a program of record. 

As the service prototypes resilient SATCOM capabilities, it’s also working to create a hybrid, multi-orbit network of commercial and military satellites to manage tactical and enterprise communication needs through an effort called the Space Data Network. The service hasn’t discussed in detail what programs will fit under the SDN umbrella, and it’s not clear how the PTS Family of Systems might intersect or reside within that architecture. 

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said April 15 that part of the reason for the lack of a clear message on SDN is that the service is still refining what the architecture will look like.

“We probably need to improve how we tell that story, and we’re working on it,” Meink told reporters during the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo. “One of the challenges is there’s just so many different user sets that we’re supporting, and some of these users have different requirements … and we have to meet them all. So, that’s the architecture we’re refining now. This is an area where the technology is moving so fast. Things we thought five, six years ago were impossible are very possible and actually more affordable than we would have thought.”