Exploring Potential Jam-Proof Tactical Satellite Communications for Space Force's Future Operations
Let's Chat Satcoms
The Protected Tactical SATCOM-Prototype (PTS-P) program, set to launch in 2025, is all about kick-starting a new era of secure, jam-resistant tactical communications. This baby's coming courtesy of two competing payloads developed by Northrop Grumman and Boeing.
Northrop Grumman's got theirs tested and assembled, ready to integrate with their ESPAStar bus. They're working hard on this, announced on January 6. As for Boeing, they're in the thick of integrating their PTS-P payload with their Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, WGS-11.
The Space Force's been hankering after more secure comms solutions for ages, with the budget request for fiscal 2025 aiming to ramp up the effort. The PTS-P is all about creating a secure comms system that can withstand adversary jamming. To do this, it'll be packing new cryptography, signals, and more.
The constant electronic warfare jamming in the Russia-Ukraine conflict underscores the need for jam-resistant satellite signals. But don't think this program's a newcomer – the Space Force has been planning it for quite a while now. They've already got their Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites handling secure comms, but they plan to split their tactical and strategic requirements in the future.
Evolved Strategic SATCOM will manage nuclear command and control and other strategic missions, while the Protected Anti-Jam Tactical SATCOM (PATS) family, which includes PTS-P and the Protected Tactical Waveform and ground infrastructure, known as the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service, will take care of the tactical stuff.
Both Northrop Grumman and Boeing passed the preliminary design review for PTS-P in 2020, and the Space Force awarded prototype contracts in 2021. Northrop's version passed its critical design review in September 2021 and is set to be a "free flyer" with its own dedicated satellite (ESPAStarHP bus). Boeing's version completed its critical design review in 2022, with the decision made then to host it on the WGS-11 satellite.
It's worth noting that the Space Force keeps a close eye on costs, and one way they do this is by sharing payloads, just like they did with the Enhanced Polar SATCOM-Recapitalization payloads, hosted on a Norwegian satellite launched in 2024.
The PTS-P payload Boeing's working on is set to supplement WGS-11's main mission. The WGS constellation provides high-bandwidth global communications coverage, but it lacks advanced anti-jamming capabilities. Congress funded the newest WGS satellites (11th and 12th in the series) in 2018, and Boeing and Space Force officials promise that the newest iteration will be able to direct its signals in a narrower beam, making it harder to spoof or jam its signals.
Boeing's PTS-P payload will be able to demonstrate its prototype technology even as the rest of the WGS satellite operates, then transition to become fully operational after the demonstration if needed.
The Space Force has divided the PTS program into two phases: PTS-Prototype and PTS-Resilient. While Northrop and Boeing are busy with PTS-P, they're also vying for PTS-R, which will operationalize the technologies demonstrated in the prototypes. The end goal is to create two payloads "with full signal processing and switching capability that allows direct connectivity between users," and they can either orbit on their own dedicated satellites or be hosted on other spacecraft.
On top of that, the Space Force is working on what they call PTS-Global, which will "bridge the gap between the more focused capabilities provided by PTS-R and the broadly available but also the lower assured access capabilities provided by existing/emerging MILSATCOM and commercial services." The fiscal 2025 budget requests nearly $250 million to get PTS-Global off the ground, with the hope of launching satellites in fiscal 2029 at a total cost of some $2.14 billion over five years.
- The Protected Tactical SATCOM-Prototype (PTS-P) program, which is set to launch in 2025, is a part of the space force's efforts to enhance secure, jam-resistant tactical communications, using technology and science in space-and-astronomy.
- Both Northrop Grumman and Boeing, active players in the space force's PTS-P program, are developing unique payloads for their respective satellite projects, with each aiming to withstand warfare tactics like electronic jamming.
- To create a secure communications system that can withstand adversary jamming, the PTS-P will be equipped with new cryptography, signals, and other advanced features, demonstrating the integration of cutting-edge science and technology within military warfare.
- As the competition between Northrop Grumman and Boeing progresses for the PTS-P program, both companies are also eyeing the PTS-Resilient phase, where they will operationalize the prototype technologies to develop two payloads capable of direct connectivity between users, either as dedicated satellites or hosted on other spacecraft.
