Astrium Exec Talks 10 Year Learnings from Skynet Program

Patrick Wood
Photo: Astrium

In October 2003, in one of the major deals of its kind in the milsatcom space, the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) signed a multi-billion dollar contract with Paradigm Secure Communications to develop the Skynet 5 program, which now encompasses four dedicated milsatcom satellites. These satellites, which were financed through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) program, have formed a key part of the MoD’s strategy, particularly in hotspots such as Iraq and Afghanistan. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the U.K. Skynet program, Via Satellite talks to Patrick Wood, head of engineering and industrial operations, Astrium Satellites, (he was previously Skynet 5 program director responsible for system delivery) about the key successes and learnings from the Skynet program.

VIA SATELLITE: Skynet 5 celebrates its 10-year anniversary this month. What do you think the main achievements of the program have been? What is your assessment of the success of the program?

Wood: Here we are 10 years later. I remember the 24th October when we held that initial press conference to say that we signed the contract. If we look back and reflect on that, it is one of the most successful PFI contracts in terms of delivery. We did everything we were supposed to by the main gate delivery dates. There are not many defense contracts that can say that. You also have to remember the sheer size of the contract. It was initially 2 GEO spacecraft and all of the Royal Navy fleet upgrades of satellite antenna systems and the electronics behind that. We also had to develop multiple types of mobile terminals for the Army and the RAF. Upgrade the satellite control centers and network control centers, all during a period when the U.K. government was involved in two conflicts. So, the pressure on us not to disrupt day-to-day communications was enormous. Just the logistics of designing such a large, complex system and delivering it without losing any current capability was a massive achievement. The system was sized to take account of MoD future expansion capability and of course that meant the relationship evolved with the MoD. We built Skynet 5C and Skynet 5D as expansion to the original capacity as demand for capacity grew. Skynet 5D was launched in December last year and completes the current fleet of Skynet 5 spacecraft, which provide resilient and secure long-distance communications for not only the MoD but other government users worldwide.

VIA SATELLITE: What influence has the Skynet program had on other milsatcom programs around the world?

Wood: When I look around other nations, I can see a lot of things that are very similar, and perhaps have come out of the design concepts whether space or ground systems. From a system point of view, I think a lot of countries have been extremely interested in how we were successful, how we were able to do it as a service contract, and how we then worked with the MoD to evolve the relationship.

VIA SATELLITE: What do you think the number one achievement of the program has been?

Wood: In terms of the number one achievement, if I look at it from a company point of view, it is the fact that we delivered on time and on quality. But, from myself as the program director during that period of time, when I look back on it, it was the development of some of the technology, which at the early stages was seen as high risk. For example, the active receive antenna system was always perceived as being high risk. No one had ever developed such a complex antenna system and to this day, no one has done anything that comes close. We were involved in the technical demonstrator program with the MoD for a number of years before the contract signature, but then we had to deliver this quarter of a ton of pure electronics on the front face of the spacecraft, which has electrically steerable beams. It can dynamically change the antenna pattern to effectively enable the customer to have absolute flexibility. So, you have a spacecraft where you have the ability to manipulate the beam shape on the Earth. Consequently, you have the ability to protect against various RF threats that opposing forces may use against you. For me, technically, this was the biggest challenge.

VIA SATELLITE: Given that, since Skynet satellites were launched, we have now seen a time of economic austerity and milsatcom programs either abandoned or scaled back, when do you see the market coming back, or will programs like Skynet ultimately become a thing of the past?

Wood: Over the years military programs have evolved. You can see that from the Skynet 4’s to the Skynet 5’s. They have taken on a lot of the benefits of the commercial telecoms experience in terms of increased complexity and optimizing the number of channels on a spacecraft. You can also talk about the optimization of the many sub-systems we use on commercial spacecraft, but doing it with a hardened and resilient satellite platform. We have taken a commercial platform and turned it into a military satellite with all the full protection measures. Our approach was not to start with a bespoke military design but actually we started with our Eurostar 3000 commercial satellite design and turned into a hardened military space platform and payload. This was very successful. We have been able to use the same facilities we use for commercial spacecraft. If you look at other military programs that have existed, they have used very bespoke designs and processes. Consequently, some have struggled. We worked hard with Skynet to keep it close to commercial satellite evolution. Of course, there was bespoke technology in the payload but we put our energy into developing those aspects rather than completely redesigning all of the spacecraft.

VIA SATELLITE: In your opinion, where does the U.K. MoD’s milsatcom strategy go next?

Wood: There is a constellation up there which is delivering what the MoD requires. It also has quite a significant future proofing as part of the design. The in-orbit infrastructure that they have is enabling them to flex the bandwidth that they need going forward, which is an important aspect of it. It sets the scene for how systems evolve over time. Where we are focusing on is where technology is evolving, which is with more sophisticated digital processing and electronic protection. So, we can look at some of the capability we have flown on Skynet 5 and extrapolate that going forward into the type of threat that the United Kingdom and other friendly governments may need to have protection against. We are looking at how active transmit antennas will evolve and how much more functionality in terms of the processed payload capability we need to develop. For example, if you look at the work we have done with the European Space Agency (ESA) AlphaSat program in terms of its processed payload, we want to see how we can use that type of technology in a military context going forward. We have a lot of building blocks in terms of what we can offer the customer in the next generation of spacecraft.

VIA SATELLITE: What is the potential timeline?

Wood: Skynet 5D has just gone up and it has a 15-year life expectancy. Skynet 5A, 5B, and 5C were launched in 2007 and 2008 with a lifespan of 15 years too. But, there are a number of options we can explore. Although commercial satcom gives you a capability, it does not give you a hardened core capability. What military spacecraft give you is a completely hardened core based on bespoke technology, that when secure comms are required, they are there. On commercial satcoms we are seeing much more disruption to traffic and that is just purely on the telecoms market. If you only rely on commercial satcom for military communication there is a risk to your valuable communications. One of the things we have to recognize is the advantage a hardened and resilient military capability gives you.