Enhanced PTS-P is part of the Space Force’s Force Design and is intended to expand protected satellite communications to support warfighters operating in highly contested environments. The program is under the purview of the Acting PAE and is managed by Space Systems Command’s System Delta 88, led by U.S. Space Force Col. A.J. Ashby.

The prototype is designed to improve satellite communications performance in the presence of jamming through advanced antennas and space-based processing of the Protected Tactical Waveform, or PTW.

“Enhanced PTS-P represents another important step in delivering more resilient, protected communications capabilities to the joint force,” said Erin Carper, acting Space Force portfolio acquisition executive for Satellite Communications and Positioning, Navigation and Timing. “This capability will help ensure tactical users can operate with greater confidence in contested environments.”

As part of the Enhanced PTS-P acquisition strategy, this contract exemplifies multiple Department of War Acquisition Transformation principles by emphasizing contractor accountability and affordability.

The strategy also improves contracting processes by leveraging follow-on Other Transaction authorities, which is a flexible pathway for the government to develop and prototype new capabilities faster. Northrop Grumman was previously awarded prototype contracts and completed critical design reviews in 2021.

Most importantly, Enhanced PTS-P accelerates capability to the warfighter by utilizing an additional middle-tier acquisition period to iteratively deliver improved PTW satellite communications for earlier operational use on the path to full requirement satisfaction.

“Enhanced PTS-P pairs innovative technology with an acquisition approach designed to move faster and deliver protected SATCOM capabilities where they are needed most,” said Mozhdeh Najafabadi, PTS-P/R system program manager. “That combination is essential as we acquire and employ more resilient space capabilities.”

Enhanced PTS-P is expected to inform future Protected Tactical Satellite Communications capability development and demonstrate how the Space Force can deliver more responsive, resilient communications options to support the joint force.

Source: Space Systems Command

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The 450RM operates on iDirectGov’s Evolution Defense, Viasat GX, SES Flex and DVB-S2X networks, as well as the military-standard 188/165B Enhanced Bandwidth Efficient Modem (EBEM). It supports operations across geostationary (GEO), highly elliptical (HEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations, while maintaining the highest security standards.

Designed for space-constricted environments, the half-rack unit allows two 450RMs to be mounted side-by-side in the rack, minimizing rack space requirements while providing a protected, durable form factor.

“The 450RM is resilient, secure and flexible to suit our troops’ satellite communications at the tactical edge,” said Tim Winter, iDirectGov president. “Its multi-technology architecture delivers optimized performance and efficient operations.”

The 450RM is powered by the 4‑Series SDM architecture, which integrates iDirectGov’s Communication Signal Interference Removal (CSIR) technology and a Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)-140-3 Level 3 approved Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Cryptographic engine for secure, resilient communications. This architecture enables a TRANSEC‑compliant network design that exceeds U.S. government standards and delivers high‑quality voice, video and data across contested environments.

Source: iDirectGov

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“CACI’s long-standing relationship with NIWC Atlantic and our commitment to continuous innovation reflect how seriously we take this responsibility. We remain dedicated to ensuring our customers and warfighters receive the best care possible, when and where they need it the most,” said John Mengucci, CACI president and chief executive officer. “Our secure, reliable communications enable rapid response, keeping operators connected in high-pressure situations so they can execute critical missions when the stakes are highest.”

Under this latest task order, CACI will offer systems engineering, network and software engineering, systems certification, technology evaluation, integration and testing, training, maintenance, logistics, and lifecycle sustainment management to provide warfighters with high-quality equipment when and where they need it most, anywhere in the world. CACI’s highly efficient logistics team is dedicated to accuracy and reducing shipping time, getting equipment into the hands of warfighters as quickly as possible.

Source: CACI

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VADM Whitworth brings decades of leadership across the U.S. defense and intelligence communities. Most recently, he served as the eighth director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) from June 2022 until his retirement in late 2025, where he led the delivery of geospatial intelligence to support national security operations worldwide. Notably, he oversaw the maturation of NGA Maven, the Department of Defense’s primary initiative for operationalizing AI and Machine Learning, transitioning the program from an experimental framework into a critical operational capability that significantly increased the speed and scale of intelligence analysis.

In his role as strategic advisor, VADM Whitworth will advise Satellogic on strategic engagement with global customers, the development of the company’s product and technology roadmap, and the integration of high-frequency Earth observation into modern intelligence architectures.

His appointment comes as Satellogic expands its capabilities in persistent Earth observation and deepens its engagement with defense and intelligence customers globally.

“Access to timely geospatial intelligence is foundational to national security,” said Emiliano Kargieman, CEO and co-founder of Satellogic. “VADM Whitworth has led this mission at the highest level. His experience will help us align our capabilities with evolving defense and intelligence requirements.”

The market is shifting from episodic collection to continuous monitoring across large operational environments. Satellogic’s vertically integrated model is designed to deliver persistent, global coverage and intelligence at scale.

“I know the capabilities of our adversaries, the complexities of assessing global threats, and the resulting imperative for persistent monitoring,” said VDAM Whitworth. “Satellogic’s constellation is designed to address that imperative by combining scale, frequency, and resolution.”z

Source: Satellogic

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Contrivian Constellation dynamically orchestrates traffic across Starlink, Amazon Leo, and other satellite systems in real time, operating as a unified connectivity layer across multiple satellite networks. Constellation ensures continuous connectivity even during network congestion, degradation, or full network outages. It is powered by proprietary software that eliminates both single-constellation dependency and multi-provider operational complexity.

“For years, satellite connectivity has been treated as best effort. That doesn’t work when you’re coordinating disaster response, transmitting critical healthcare data, monitoring energy infrastructure, or keeping remote operations online. When a connection drops, the consequences are real. We built Contrivian Constellation to eliminate that risk, bringing resilience and performance standards we expect from terrestrial networks into LEO,” said Grant Kirkwood, CEO at Contrivian. “If you rely on satellite for mission-critical operations, it shouldn’t feel fragile. It should just work. Connectivity is the solution, but performance is the point.”

Built on the company’s Lighthouse technology, the platform continuously measures path performance across each constellation and dynamically steers traffic over the best-performing links. This real-time coordination maintains session stability, prevents disruption during network events, and allows critical applications to operate without interruption.

“With Contrivian Constellation, we’ve engineered an active-active model where all available LEO paths are continuously measured and optimized in real time. Depending on configuration, traffic steering occurs in a matter of hundreds of milliseconds so that live sessions remain intact, even when changing underlying LEO connections. This isn’t about faster session recovery. It eliminates disruption entirely,” said Tom Daly, principal Technologist at Contrivian.

Contrivian supports enterprise and government connectivity with more than 600 global carrier relationships and reach in 160 countries. The company operates 24×7 global network operations coverage with engineering teams across the US, UK, Europe, and Asia, managing complex multi-access environments spanning fiber, broadband, LTE/5G, and LEO satellite.

Source: Contrivian

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The report highlights high-level cybersecurity risks and mitigation strategies for users of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communication (SATCOM) systems. The risks and mitigations are detailed through the lens of the space segment comprising the satellites themselves; the ground segment encompassing satellite control centers, ground stations, gateways, and user terminals; the user segment that includes end-user devices, applications, and associated interfaces that connect to LEO SATCOM services; and the communication links and broader supply chain for LEO SATCOM systems.

The CSI suggests numerous mitigation strategies for the space segment and legacy space equipment, including implementing tailored security measures, and using frequency-hopping signals, redundant communication paths, and anti-jam antennas. For the ground segment, continuous monitoring and anomaly detection are essential. The user segment should focus on strengthening endpoint security and enforcing secure access practices.

The report also provides frameworks for maintaining the resilience of critical networks, while offering valuable insights and guidelines for users to understand their roles and responsibilities in securing LEO SATCOM systems.

LEO SATCOM systems improve network resilience and enable emergency communications across both government and private sectors; however, as LEO satellite constellations grow, the attack surface open to adversaries increases, significantly increasing the risk to the system if the correct cybersecurity measures are not applied.

In LEO SATCOM networks, Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability — known as the CIA triad — are critical to maintaining secure and reliable operations. LEO SATCOM systems face unique challenges due to their distributed architecture and limited physical access to space-based assets. They also rely on radio frequency links that are susceptible to jamming, spoofing, and interception.

Organizations that use LEO SATCOM services are encouraged to review this guidance and adopt the outlined cybersecurity mitigations.

Other agencies co-sealing this CSI are the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre), New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NZ), and Australian Space Agency.

Read the full report here.

Source: NSA

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The post NSA shares LEO SATCOM system risks and mitigations appeared first on Intelligence Community News.

As near-peer adversaries increasingly deploy sophisticated Electronic Warfare (EW) capabilities to disrupt allied command and control, the reliance on centralized, rigid satellite links has become a critical vulnerability. AnySignal is addressing this operational gap by delivering autonomous, decentralized communications architecture in the face of adversarial spectrum denial.

“The modern battlespace requires communications infrastructure that is as dynamic and resilient as the warfighters it supports,” said John Malsbury, CEO at AnySignal. “AnySignal’s Defense platform is moving beyond static links to a self-healing network that autonomously navigates the spectrum to defeat interference.”

The effort focuses on maturing and validating the system for operational deployment. At the core of the solution is AnySignal’s Defense platform bolstering hardened Military Satellite Communications and the Space Data Network.

Source: AnySignal

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The COSMOS contract consists of services necessary to support USSF Combat Forces Command (CFC) Commercial Satellite Communications (SATCOM) and Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) missions worldwide.

The Space Acquisition and Innovation Office (SAIO) at Peterson Space Force Base intends to solicit competitive proposals to provide non-personal services to support USSF CFC SATCOM and MILSATCOM missions at multiple geographically separated units (GSUs) located worldwide. Access to these performance locations require security classification up to Top Secret (TS)/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) level. The contractor facility for the Contractor Inventory Control Point shall be at a CONUS location (excluding Alaska and HI).

The government reserves the right to add additional missions or services that are integrally related to the current mission. Additional performance locations may be added as services are increased. The following types of missions and services may be provided: administrative, financial, managerial, Satellite Operations Center (SOC) support, watch-office support, mission planning, remote telemetry and tracking, system upgrades and modifications, mission computer maintenance, mission systems maintenance and database support, technical assistance, government-directed exercise and testing support, simulation trainers, training development and support, communications, electronics, electronic system management, supply, Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet), Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), Joint World-Wide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), environmental, civil engineering, custodial, industrial, physical and operational security, logistics, depot and supply support.

Review the COSMOS RFP.

Source: SAM

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Designed to meet specific government requirements, the VuaLe portfolio supports UAV missions, providing flexibility, security and operational control through a range of terminals and connectivity services.

Connectivity services within the portfolio include Uncrewed Air, L-MAX, G2X Air, G2X Air Plus, and K-MAX. Each will provide specific benefits depending on the mission, giving operators flexible, budget-conscious options. This includes supporting intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations as well as public safety, border security, defense, and scientific research.

Uncrewed Air is a new service designed to provide reliable and cost-effective L-band connectivity plans through Viasat’s global L-band network. It enables continuous, resilient communications for mission-critical UAV operations, making secure satellite links accessible to a broader range of operators than ever before.

To complement Uncrewed Air, Viasat has also unveiled a suite of compact, lightweight, low power terminals for UAVs. Starting from as light as 440 grams, these terminals provide dependable Command and Control (C2) link via reliable L-band, enabling operators to maintain continuous communication even in challenging environments. The small size, weight and power (SWaP) terminal is ideal for smaller UAV platforms, designed to deliver global reach, reliability, and operational flexibility.

Todd McDonell, president, international government, Viasat, said, “The launch of this new service portfolio enforces Viasat’s commitment to advancing UAV communications with secure, resilient, and flexible solutions. As demand grows for UAV missions, we aim to enable our customers across government and defense industries to operate with greater situational awareness, operational efficiency and cost control.”

Source: Viasat

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Leveraging an integrated waveform, upgraded gateways and common ground architecture, Viasat’s expanded global Ka-band connectivity for government will enable customers to seamlessly roam between Ka-band satellite networks, including Viasat satellites, Global Xpress Ka-band satellites (part of Viasat’s global fleet following the acquisition of Inmarsat in 2023), and other commercial and government Ka-band satellites. Moving forward, government users operating across domains will be able to access this evolved Ka-band network through upgraded, single terminal solutions rather than needing multiple hardware solutions.

Viasat’s integrated Ka-band network will offer government users ubiquitous roaming and faster connectivity, with data rates up to 200 Mbps with a 45cm or equivalent antenna, and features electronically and mechanically steered beams that offer the flexibility to dynamically allocate bandwidth and deliver dedicated secure connectivity for mobile government platforms. The unified Ka-band network will incorporate the ultra-high-capacity ViaSat-3 satellites, each designed to move significant bandwidth to meet real-time demand in high-concentration areas. The recently launched ViaSat-3 F2 satellite will provide additional resilience for the Americas and the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite is planned to deliver coverage over the Asia-Pacific region.

“By unifying our Ka-band satellites into a single next-generation network, we are delivering the resilient, secure, and high-capacity connectivity that government missions demand around the world,” said Victor Farah, senior vice president of government services and solutions at Viasat. “This advancement reflects our commitment to providing trusted, user-centric communication services that give warfighters the global reach and information advantage they require in today’s increasingly contested environments.”

Source: Viasat

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