DoD Interested In Smartphonetosatellite Communications Services

Washington. The technological race to connect cell phones to satellite networks has not gone unnoticed by the Department of Defense.

"This opportunity is very exciting for us," Claire Grayson, head of the Pentagon's Commercial Satellite Communications Division, said on February 28.

The new communications services, which connect phones directly to satellites, are of interest to military users operating in locations without cellular network connectivity, Grayson said during a FedInsider webinar.

"This will enable the Ministry of Defense to equip servicemen with smaller, lighter, more functional and less expensive communication devices," he said. "Multiple architectures will allow existing smartphones to seamlessly communicate with satellites using cellular spectrum."

Grasson's office, known as CSCO, is working on a request for direct-to-device satellite communications services to be released later this year. "This is something the industry needs to pay attention to," he said. CSCO is also seeking feedback from military users. "We are in the market research phase," Grayson said.

Many companies have entered the race to go mobile, including Iridium, Lynk Global, AST SpaceMobile, Samsung, Globalstar and others.

A contract has been concluded for PLEO and micro-GEA

Grayson said the Defense Department is looking to diversify the types of satellite communications services it buys from the private sector.

As early as May, CSCO plans to award contracts for satellite communications services provided by Internet companies in low Earth orbit. According to Grayson, several offers were received in November. "We are finalizing source selection."

LEO satcom is a departure from traditional geosynchronous communications (GEO) satellite services. Grayson said military users are demanding low-latency broadband services from companies like OneWeb, SpaceX and Amazon.

According to Grayson, the Department of Defense will continue to rely on GEO's services. “LEO is great, but I don't think it's the most important mode. I think all orbits have important characteristics that the Department of Defense needs to take advantage of.

There is also growing interest in satellite communications services using small geostationary satellites, such as those proposed by Astranis.

"That's one of the innovations that's happening at GEO," Grasson said. "Micro-GEOs are ten times smaller than traditional GEO-birds, and we saw that they had advantages for the DoD, and we wanted to create a contracting tool to access those capabilities."

He said that his party is trying to work on the widest possible sector of the market. "Bureaucracy is often an obstacle to taking advantage of the commercial market," he says. "CSCO wanted to ease that burden with a very flexible, ready-to-use contracting mechanism."

Military vs. Commercial Satellites

Grayson said the Defense Department will always own and operate its own communications satellite, but its capabilities are limited and often provided to "priority" users, while commercial services are available to any military customer who can pay for them.

According to him, the military satellite committee is subject to the "scheme of priorities". “Missions at the bottom of this hierarchy have absolutely no access to abilities when they need them. Unlike paid commercial satcom. If you have the finances and are available in the commercial sector, we can facilitate your transactions.

Commercial companies offer managed services that give customers some autonomy in managing their network, Grayson said. "This agreement is very attractive, especially for customers who do not fall under the priority scheme," he said.

The Defense Department continues to acquire large amounts of "portable" capacity through lease agreements with commercial satellite operators, "but this approach will deteriorate over time as the commercial industry will not sell access to its megahertz systems," he said. .

Newer systems, such as SpaceX's Starlink, do not lease capacity but instead provide a full range of services under a contract similar to the one the Defense Department currently has with Iridium. "How you buy it will help determine how effectively you can use what you have," he adds.

According to Grayson, the US military is currently reviewing proposals for satellite communications services and will conduct a pilot program. "Based on the results of this pilot program, the goal is to issue long-term sustainable contracts based on the satellite-as-a-service model." He said the service package can be tailored to fit needs and budget constraints.

Before they can compete for Defense Department contracts, commercial satellite communications providers are scrutinized in a number of areas, including their cybersecurity practices and supply chains.

"We look at their financial transactions, we look at the state of their supplier base, what trade sanctions may be imposed on them or their network, and many other business issues," Grayson said. "All of these things put a heavy burden on us when we're doing business with a multinational global supplier base."