satellite communications Archives

U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson, U.S. Space Command commander, speaks to members of the Joint Task Force-Space Defense during a town hall at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Jan. 17, 2023. (U.S. Space Force photo by Tiana Williams)

Spacecom to reach full operational capability by end of year, commander says

The U.S. military's newest combatant command reached initial operational capability in August 2021 and has been working towards FOC.

Apr 18, 2023 By Mikayla Easley

SDA seeks bids for next tranche of satellites to provide global communications

The Space Development Agency is seeking industry bids for the Beta variant of its Tranche 2 transport layer consisting of 72 satellites and related ground support systems.

Apr 11, 2023 By Mikayla Easley

Screenshot of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 launch, April 2, 2023.

Third time’s a charm: SpaceX launches SDA’s first batch of Tranche 0 satellites

After multiple postponements, SpaceX successfully launched 10 of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 satellites on Sunday.

Apr 2, 2023 By Jon Harper

U.S. Marine Corps combat engineers attached to Battalion Landing Team 3/5, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), utilize a GPS during an Instrument Set, Reconnaissance and Surveying (ENFIRE) class aboard the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) in the Philippine Sea, July 6, 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Karis Mattingly)

Pentagon CIO places high priority on developing GPS alternatives with growing threat of great power conflict

The events that have unfolded over the last year in Ukraine have shown the need to accelerate the fielding of new technologies like GPS alternatives and other…

Mar 21, 2023 By Billy Mitchell

Gen. Chance Saltzman makes remarks during his promotion ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Nov. 2, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich)

Space Force chief concerned about ‘backdoor’ for attacking satellite communications

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine demonstrates that the space and cyber domains are “inextricably linked," Space Force chief Gen. Chance Saltzman said.

Jan 31, 2023 By Jon Harper

A U.S. Airman assigned to the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing, Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia assembles a communication flyaway kit and Ranger SATCOM terminal to establish network connectivity at Cairo West Air Base on June 27, 2022 as part of exercise Agile Phoenix. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. Glen Flanagan)

Pentagon CIO issues implementation plan to guide enterprise SATCOM capabilities

The plan heavily takes into account that the Department of Defense is working more closely with commercial and international partners for global satellite communications to power JADC2.

Jan 19, 2023 By Billy Mitchell

SDA has big plans for a new app factory to aid battle management

The Space Development Agency recently released a draft solicitation for the Battle Management Command, Control, and Communications (BMC3) Application Factory.

Nov 14, 2022 By Jon Harper

Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear is interviewed by DefenseScoop Managing Editor Jon Harper at DefenseTalks, Sept. 15, 2022.

SDA’s new on-orbit testbed will experiment with alternative PNT technology, other capabilities

Payload capabilities that are successfully demonstrated as part of SDA's NExT initiative could be incorporated into future satellite tranches.

Sep 16, 2022 By Jon Harper

Pentagon faces shortage of edge-computing capability for space systems

Top air and space IT officials want to bring processing power to the edge while on orbit.

Jul 11, 2022 By Jon Harper

U.S. Marines review how to make nine-line calls on a radio during a communications exercise at the Jungle Warfare Training Center in Okinawa, Japan, Oct. 17, 2018. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Kindo Go)

Marine Corps outlines priorities for improving tactical data and communications capabilities

Marine Corps Systems Command has several priorities for improving how Marines talk and pass data at the tactical edge in the next two years.

May 19, 2022 By Mark Pomerleau