New Visions Emerge for Global Milsatcom

U.S. Air Force personnel conducting a large milsatcom protected communications test. Photo: USAF/ Staff Sgt. Julius Delos Reyes

On the final day of Global MilSatCom, a number of key speakers from Ministry of Defenses (MODs) and armed forces around the world spoke of their visions regarding milsatcom moving forward. The key theme was that many countries now have a new vision for defense, so speakers elaborated on how satellite plays a role in that.

One of the key speakers was Japanese Cabinet Office Counsellor and National Space Policy Secretariat Col. Shinichiro Tsui. He outlined Japan’s new space commitment, and how this actually started in 2008 when a new space act was enabled. The Japan’s space industry vision takes the country all the way through 2030, where Japan hopes to double the scale of its entire space industry. This is an ambitious target. Recently, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a support package for NewSpace startups, which will also include support from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Tsui admitted that from a milsatcom perspective, Japan will need more resilient space systems in the future as it looks to rely more on satellite capability.

Tsui was followed onto the stage by Canadian Armed Forces Director General of Space Col. Cameron Stoltz, who spoke of Canada also having a new vision for defense. Stolz said Canada had significant projections for increases in defense spending, and that Canada wants to invest in and employ a range of space capabilities. It is already a major investor in the US’ Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program, which gives it access to some state-of-the-art military satcom capabilities.

One of the most interesting projects that Stolz spoke about was the Enhanced Satellite Communication Project -Polar (ESCP-P) which will be a key focus for Canada. Stolz said that Canada is going through a Request for Information (RFI) process here that is not yet closed, and the focus of this project will be gaining end-to-end solutions form industry. Stolz also said that participation in the RFI is not a requirement to be involved in the Request for Proposal (RFP). In terms of the what ESCP-P might cost, Stolz said it could ultimately cost Canada $762.32 billion (CA$1 billion) to $3.80 billion (CA$4.99 billion). He said industry had “shown significant interest” in the ESCP-P RFI. While the project is set to happen at the start to middle of the next decade, Stolz admits there is potential to accelerate these timelines if possible. “We want to provide 24/7 wideband and narrowband satellite communications services in the Artic region,” he said.

Australia and New Zealand

New Zealand is an interesting case study in terms of milsatcom. While it only has a population of less than 5 million people, it has some unique challenges when using satcom. New Zealand Defense Forces (NZDF) JSO1 Joint Communication and Information Systems Wing Commander Paul Drysdale spoke of these in his presentation. In 2018, New Zealand released a Strategic Defense Policy Statement which aimed to look at the need for satcom going forward. New Zealand is pretty unique. For example, its search and rescue region is 30 million square kilometers, which equates to 12 percent of the world’s surface. It has over 15 thousand km of coastline. Drysdale spoke of the increasing importance of polar operations, and the importance of situational awareness of its coastline. He said that like Canada, New Zealand “are consumers” of satellite services and it has invested in the US’ Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) system (for example), where it has purchased fixed, land, and mobile terminals. It has benefited from Australia already being part of the WGS program. “The advantages of investing in WGS means we go from kilobits to megabits in terms of capability,” he said.

But, what of the future? Drysdale said the NZDF was now looking to 2025, where it wanted to be in a position “to operate as a networked integrated defense force.” He added, “We need new and upgraded defense capabilities between now and 2025. We are investing in cyber, surveillance for example. WGS is a cornerstone of our satcom capability. However, WGS will not meet all our requirements. In order to support Strategy 2025 and support a networked defense force, we need more. We need to figure out what satcom capabilities (commercial and military) will best suit our needs.”

New Zealand’s neighbor, Australia, is in a similar position. It has a population of just under 25 million people and has been an aggressive investor in satellite capability, both in terms of military and reducing the digital divide across the country. Australian Department of Defense Deputy Director of Future Australian Defense Satcom System Lt. Col. Michael Hose gave updates on the Australian Defense Satcom System (ASDSS), and spoke of Australia’s reliance on space. He said, “We are looking at different partnering arrangements. We have a hosted payload with Optus on C1. We are Geostationary Orbit (GEO) centric, but we are definitely looking at Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO). We have to do something from 2024 or 2025 onward, as the demand for satellite capacity is high. We are conducting an industry RFI. We have already had lots of conversations with industry. We want interoperability — not just between defense forces, but with other families of terminals. We are going into orbits and bands that we have never been before. There are increasing opportunities for partnering with industry or international partners.” Hose also said Australia will have a RFI in a few months, and that there will be significant opportunities for industry to get involved, and that the system will need to be future proofed into the 2030s — so it has been trying to work out how much capacity and bandwidth it will need in this period.

Italy

One of the more interesting presentations in the afternoon came from Italian Army Section Head of Frequencies and ACP, C4i-EI Command, Lt. Col. Luca De Angelis.  In his presentation, he spoke of the cyber threats facing governments and MODs, and how Italy was looking to counter this threat. He said that at the start of the satellite era, satellite assets were considered too heavy to attack, and that there “were plenty of easier targets available” But, he said that now Italy has to factor in cyber threats, as they are now very real and very possible. “Assets have now become targets. The Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TTC) systems have now become standardized. The Italian Army is fully conscious about the cyber threat involving military satellite communication. New satellite requirements take in account the cyber security assessment. We now have a very big organization looking at cybersecurity in this area,” he concluded.