New Growth Witnessed
Providing an X-band satellite or partial X-band payload for service to governments is a continuing application of commercial satellites with some operators zeroing in on its growth potential. For example, this past June the Optus C 1 satellite was successfully launched into orbit. This spacecraft provides communications coverage for the Australian Defense forces as part of its communication mission.
"The U.S. government is really developing its dedicated systems and is currently trying to figure out the best course of future action. They are searching for a balance between leased capacity on commercial spacecraft available soon with advanced capabilities such as phased array antennas and steerable spotbeams, which are highly attractive to the military, and improving existing infrastructures or even building an entire system from the ground up," says Harms.
Given the inherent need for such services, companies in the United States and Spain have developed commercial platforms with advanced capabilities strictly dedicated to provide services to government users. XTAR LLC, a joint venture between Loral Space and Communications and Spain's Hisdesat SA, has two satellites under construction--XTAR-EUR and Spainsat.
Both satellites are based on Space Systems/Loral's 1300 platform. XTAR-EUR is designed to carry 12 wideband and high-power X-band transponders. The satellite will feature multiple, steerable spotbeams. Operations of XTAR are slated to begin by year's end.
The Spainsat satellite will carry 13 X-band transponders and one Ka-band transponder when it begins service in 2004. Hisdesat plans to lease five of Spainsat's X-band transponders and one Ka-band transponder to the Spanish military, with the remaining eight open for sale to other allied countries.
Even though XTAR LLC is up and running, will the U.S. military run to them? "Putting commercial money out there and starting a company in expectation that the U.S. government will come to buy services still is somewhat risky behavior for any commercial operator to take on in this current economic climate," says Richard Dalbello, president of the Satellite Industry Association. "This venture by Loral predates its current financial commitments and thankfully the Spanish government did sign on, giving the venture some footing."
XTAR's President Bill Wright is not overly concerned. He remains optimistic that the U.S. military will sign on as a major customer of the venture and his team is aggressively going after key DoD procurement decisionmakers. "We are optimistic. We believe we are riding the right tide at the right time," he says. "In 2002, the U.S. government spent $400 million for commercial leasing primarily in C- and Ku-band with annual increases of about 15 percent."
Elliott concurs with Wright on the yearly expenditures by the government for commercial capacity leasing, but further states that the $400 million a year does not include many DoD organizations who do not use the Defense and Information Services Agency (DISA), which is the primary procurement agency for commercial transponders. "I would guess that the actual dollars by all of DoD are more in the range of $600-$700 million per year," she adds.
Wright further says that advanced use of C-, Ku-, and X-band in the commercial realm will open up new opportunities for the military. "Very little secure communication for deployed troops is needed. What the military has discovered is that the main interaction of troops stationed away from home centers on a simple reach back to home. We can provide that at a lower cost. I mean, we can build three XTARs for the price of one Gapfiller satellite. It is up to the government to decide how they want to spend its money."
The Commercial Future Of X
So will the U.S. military step up to the plate and more closely work with the commercial sector in utilizing this bandwidth? Can commercial companies targeting this arena flourish, and what more needs to be done? "The administration recently announced the remote sensing policies, stating in part that the U.S. government needs to rely to the maximum practical extent on U.S. commercial. . . capabilities. Under a similar policy, the government should be strongly encouraged to do the same thing for satellite communications," Dalbello says. Time, as always, will tell how this issue ultimately plays out.
Furthermore, given the current commercial business state of affairs, increasing relations with the military to provide even more much-needed communication services for deployed troops is likely to play out in the satellite industry's favor.
Nick Mitsis is the editor of Via Satellite magazine
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