WASHINGTON — Boeing is setting its sights on two upcoming big-ticket satellite tv for pc procurements from the U.S. Area Drive, leveraging its latest contracts for Wideband International Satcom (WGS) satellites and its foothold in business spacecraft manufacturing.
The Area Drive is anticipated to hunt bids this coming 12 months for extremely specialised, jam-resistant satellite tv for pc methods that the navy deems “no fail” belongings, that means that they need to ship safe communications even in probably the most contested environments.
“The federal government is on the lookout for mature and low-risk applied sciences,” stated Michelle Parker, vice chairman for area mission methods at Boeing Protection, Area & Safety.
The corporate is positioning to compete for these Area Drive satellite tv for pc procurements by adapting business know-how for navy use, Parker instructed SpaceNews in a latest interview.
“It’s a very thrilling time in navy satcom,” she stated.
The primary program on Boeing’s radar is the Protected Tactical Satcom, or PTS, a future constellation of encrypted communications satellites. The opposite is the Developed Strategic Satcom program, also called ESS, to develop a community of nuclear-survivable satellites to facilitate communications throughout a battle.
The Area Drive is evaluating two PTS prototype payload designs, one by Boeing and the opposite by Northrop Grumman, that might launch for in-orbit demonstrations in 2025. Boeing plans to launch its PTS prototype payload on the WGS-11 satellite tv for pc it’s producing below a $605 million contract awarded in 2019. Northrop Grumman’s PTS payload will fly on a devoted spacecraft.
After the demonstrations, the Area Drive will search bids for the manufacturing of PTS payloads. Congress authorised $233 million for this system in fiscal 12 months 2024, and the Pentagon requested $597 million for PTS in 2025.
Strategic satellite tv for pc communications
The second main satcom procurement deliberate by the Area Drive is ESS, quick for Developed Strategic Satcom, a vital element of the U.S. navy’s nuclear command, management, and communications (NC3) community that gives nuclear-survivable connectivity.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have been chosen in 2020 to design ESS satellite tv for pc prototypes. These satellites are meant to enhance and ultimately change the Superior Extraordinarily Excessive Frequency (AEHF) community of nuclear-hardened satellites made by Lockheed Martin.
Congress appropriated $505 million for ESS in 2024, and DoD is requesting $1 billion for this system in fiscal 12 months 2025. The Area Drive is anticipated to hunt bids this 12 months for additional developed ESS prototypes.
In these navy packages, Parker stated, Boeing is leveraging its “built-in payload array” that was used for WGS-11, the just lately awarded $439 million WGS-12 and the business O3b satellites constructed for international satcom operator SES.
“It’s advanced a bit for navy use, but it surely’s the identical digitally engineered know-how and the identical investments that we’ve made on the know-how in addition to the manufacturing to automate the method,” she stated.
One good thing about the digital payload, Parker added, is that customers can electronically and concurrently steer hundreds of particular person beams so communications might be assured in contested environments. The beam know-how utilized in navy satellites, she famous, is designed to stop jamming and interference.
Parker stated Boeing is at the moment growing the eighth era of its built-in payload array.
