Military Communications Satellite Program

Among the space activities of the last three decades satellite communications (SATCOM) has found the widest application in meeting both civil and military communications requirements. Several international, regional and national SATCOM systems of increasing capacity, capability and complexity have been and are being implemented over the years. The latest versions are utilizing such concepts as spot beams, processing transponders in SS-TDMA and operations in different frequency bands including the EHF band. On the military side, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France and NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) have been the only owners and operators of military SATCOM systems in the West. The systems in being and under development use satellites and ground terminals with characteristics which differ from the civilian ones with respect to frequency bands utilised and survivability and interoperability. The SATCOM has given the military users the potential of having much-needed mobility, flexibility and survivability in strategic and tactical communications for land, sea and air operations. It must, however, be said particularly for the military SATCOM systems that they have been evolved in big jumps, both in time and capability, each jump involving the deployment of two or three often specially designed large satellites, large expenses and rather traumatic transition between jumps. Despite these undesirable features these systems did not have the required degree of suevivability and flexibility.

This study test the contention that the commercial sector consistently manages acquisition programs better than the military, by examining management practices with program outcomes associated with the acquisition of communication satellites by the Air Force and by the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT). The study finds that the military and commercial programs are organized and managed in much the same way and that both produce well-functioning, useful spacecraft, Several significant differences in management practices and outcomes, however, suggest that the Air Force may be able to improve its acquisition activities. It concludes that, in carefully selected situations, there should be a place for the performance-oriented INTELSAT management practices. (Author).

The United States must operate successfully in space to help assure its security and economic well being. The Department of the Navy is a major user of space capabilities, although those capabilities are now primarily provided by DOD, the Air Force, and NOAA. Following a DOD assessment of national space security management in 2001, the Navy commissioned a Panel to Review Space to assess Navy space policy and strategy. As an extension of that review, the NRC was requested by the Navy to examine its needs in space for providing future operational and technical capabilities. This report presents a discussion of the strategic framework of future space needs, the roles and responsibilities for meeting those needs, an assessment of Navy support to space mission areas, and a proposed vision for fulfilling Naval forces space needs.