X-band: How Interested Should The Commercial Sector Be?

Supplying a diverse cache of satellite services is currently a major driver among industry executives needing to increase their profit margins. The commercial satellite payload operators catering to global clients are now exploring new opportunities outside of the traditional C- and Ku- and more recently utilized Ka-band spectrums. One band some satellite service providers are using to enhance their respective portfolios rests between 7-8 Ghz in the middle of the C- and Ku-bands.

Historically, X-band has been a military band, reserved on allocation charts for NATO allies and the U.S. government to use for their communication needs. For other countries around the world, however, X-band has also been allocated for commercial use and there are commercial services–although somewhat limited in scope, such as serving as feeder links for digital audio broadcasting services–that operate within this band.

Now the question remains as to how much more involvement should occur between the commercial sector and the military client in reference to offering X-band capacity. The next few years will be telling, but today, some commercial communication companies are banking on X-band’s success and have already incorporated this frequency into some of their next generation spacecraft. Further opening up X-band opportunities to the private sector, some argue, can be beneficial to the global commercial industry as a whole.

For one, there is a high demand for more spectrum. Throughout recent years, many terrestrial services have been beating the satellite industry out for new spectrum. Examples include terrestrial wireless local loop services in rural areas operating in C- and Ku-band, as well as terrestrial microwave-type services who desire access to frequencies that have been allocated globally, and even in the United States, as satellite-only spectrum.

In addition, some commercial satellite executives wanting to further increase their relations with their government client believe expanding into X-band can provide an excellent opportunity without harming the military’s need for the same spectrum, but rather enhancing it for them. For one, the military is starting to use more commercial capacity, particularly in surge areas.

"Commercial X-band is of interest to the Defense Department (DoD)," says Mary Ann Elliott, president and CEO of Arrowhead Global Solutions Inc. "There are multiple carriers pitching their X-band capacity, and though challenging, all are trying to obtain a long-term commitment in order to finalize brining their product to market."

In addition, those advocating more X-band commercial involvement stress that it would be advantageous to be able to use commercial capacity that is in orbit, particularly during surge spikes, in a band that they are already familiar with and have the equipment that can operate with it.

"Because of the current global political climate, the military cannot support the spikes of communication demand with only its own military constellation," says Greg Harms, vice president of sales for Space Systems/Loral. "Such spikes may best be met with more commercial involvement."

Another obstacle that can be defeated with an increased involvement of the commercial industry within the X-band arena centers on lowering the terminal costs. If commercial companies who are out there making such terminals increased their order books by signing on additional military clients, it may lower the per-unit and overall cost in terms of the DoD’s procurement for these systems.

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