PR NEWS

Pentagon looks for alternatives to Transformational Satellite Communications System

A satellite communications provider is touting its new spacecraft as a possible solution to some of the Defense Department’s high-speed, broadband communications needs following the demise of the Transformational Satellite Communications System, reported William Matthews of Defense News.

ViaSat, of Carlsbad, Calif., is preparing its first satellite – ViaSat-1 – for launch in 2011 over the United States to provide high-speed Internet service to underserved areas. ViaSat-1 will transmit at 100 gigabits/sec, which is 10 times faster than the service provided by its competitors, company officials said. ViaSat is pitching the service to DOD.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed canceling the TSAT program — and a number of other long-term, big-ticket items — in May in favor of technologies that will have an immediate impact on U.S. forces in southwestern Asia.

In the wake of that announcement, the Air Force moved swiftly last month to cancel the program’s ground portion by issuing a termination of convenience to Lockheed Martin Corp. on June 8, reported Amy Butler of Aviation Week. The TSAT Mission Operations System contract was valued at $2 billion. The competitive risk-reduction contracts that Lockheed Martin and Boeing Co. held for the satellite segment expired this month.

The Air Force initially planned to spend upwards of $26 billion for a five-satellite constellation, and it had already invested $2.5 billion in the program in a three-year period. At the time of cancellation, the date of the first launch had been pushed back from 2015 to 2019.

DOD is exploring the possibility of leasing commercial satellite services as an interim option to meet some of its battlefield communications needs.

However, what commercial satellites like ViaSat-1 lack is the kind of survivable, jam-resistant, secure communications that TSAT would have delivered for the president and senior military leaders to use in the event of a nuclear attack or other major national emergencies.

TSAT would have introduced a number of revolutionary capabilities. For starters, it would have dramatically enhanced communications on the move for mobile tactical forces and airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, reported Brian Robinson in Defense Systems. What’s more, it would have fielded technical innovations, such as packet-based routing in space.
ViaSat-1 is able to deliver 10 times the throughput of other Ka-band satellites through hardware improvements and better use of frequency by satellite and ground equipment, ViaSat officials said.

Meanwhile, the Air Force plans to buy three Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites to meet its survivability and security requirements. The first one is scheduled to launch next year.

It will be interesting to see if the Air Force takes advantage of the enormous throughput that commercial satellite providers such as ViaSat can offer.

US Awards $40m Contract to Aerojet

The US Army has awarded a $40m contract to Aerojet to deliver HAWK rocket motors to the US Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) for sale to allied countries.

The HAWK is a surface-to-air guided, medium-range missile that provides air defence coverage against low-to-medium-altitude aircraft.

The system is currently in use by 20 allied countries around the world.

Aerojet has manufactured about 44,000 HAWK rocket motors for the US Army and its allies.

Deliveries to AMCOM are scheduled to begin in 2010.

Captured soldier identified by DoD

The Defense Department on Sunday identified the soldier who has been listed as missing/captured in Afghanistan.

Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, was declared Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown on July 1. His status was changed to missing/captured July 3.

Bergdahl is a member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, of Fort Richardson, Alaska.

The DoD announcement came one day after The Associated Press reported that the Taliban had posted a video of the soldier. In the video, the man, who two defense officials confirmed to AP was the missing soldier, said he’s “scared I won’t be able to go home.”

In the 28-minute video, the soldier is shown with his head shaved and the start of a beard. He is sitting and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit, according to AP.

Early in the video, one of his captors holds the soldier’s dog tag up to the camera. He is shown eating at one point and sitting cross-legged.

The soldier is interviewed in English by his captors, and he is asked his views on the war, his desire to learn more about Islam and the morale of American soldiers, AP reported.

Asked how he was doing, the soldier said: “Well, I’m scared, scared I won’t be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner.”

He later chokes up when discussing his family and his hope to marry his girlfriend.

“I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America. And I miss them every day when I’m gone,” he said, according to AP.

On July 2, the U.S. military said an American soldier had disappeared after walking off his base in eastern Afghanistan with three Afghan counterparts and was believed to have been taken prisoner, according to AP.