Military To Rely On Satellite Communications First During Crises

The U.S. Defense Department has made commercial satellites as its number one option for military in-theater communications. "In the past, [military satellite communications] was our first-in choice," U.S. Air Force Maj. Michael Moyles, commercial satcom operational manager at U.S. Strategic Command, said. Now "we’re turning to you first. That’s a tremendous change in [Department of Defense] thinking that should not be underestimated." The Pentagon’s "paradigm shift" was motivated by a shortfall in milsatcom data capacity, he said.

Moreover, in a world where "today’s ally may be tomorrow’s opponent," the Department of Defense does not have the budget nor the speed to put up enough military communications spacecraft to fulfill its missions, said observed Col. Patrick Rayermann, chief of the U.S. Army‘s Space & Missile Defense Division,

"We literally need an act of Congress to build and launch a satellite," Moyles, which is why the Pentagon "hasn’t launched a satellite on schedule in years." In contrast, commercial satellite operators have proven that they can provide additional spectrum, move commercial satellites to cover conflict areas as needed, and orbit new spacecraft relatively quickly. In truth, commercial satellites have become the Pentagon’s "rapid response force" for providing U.S. war fighters with the communications they need.

The Defense Department’s requirements are music to the ears commercial satellite operators, but "you just can’t have bandwidth sitting there for free [waiting for the military to use it]," said Abbas Yazdani, president and CEO of Artel Inc. "Agreements have to be made up front so that we can reserve those capacities [and get paid for them]."

Intelsat General acting president John Klingelhoeffer agreed that the military should pay to reserve commercial satellite space. After all, the Pentagon already pays to preposition materiel around the world, he said. "If you pay to preposition tanks and food, then why not for commercial satellite communications?"

Thankfully, the U.S. military is sensitive to the need of commercial satellite operators to make money, while commercial operators understand that the Pentagon cannot write blanks checks. As a result, both sides are working together to find win-win solutions.

Rayermann said that there were many ways in which the U.S. military could obtain extra capacity on commercial satellites that could work for both partners. These include installing military payloads on commercial spacecraft, or perhaps allowing the military to purchase a "right of first refusal" on specific commercial satellite spectrum.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military’s willingness to negotiate with the satellite industry is winning kudos from commercial satellite operators. "Several years ago, there wasn’t that sharing and openness between government and industry," said Scott Scheimreif, assistant vice president of Iridium Satellite‘s government division. "We’ve come a long way."