Posts Tagged ‘National Defense’
DoD Acquisition Reform, Silicon Valley Innovation, and What These Should Tell Us about the Future of Satellite Communications
After years of watching struggling defense acquisition reform initiatives while simultaneously lauding the agility, responsiveness, and successes of U.S. industry (perhaps most notably, Silicon Valley companies), it is clear that the Department of Defense needs to transition from a traditional “you-buy-it, you-live-with-it” military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) architecture towards an agile, responsive, commercial-based satellite communications (COMSATCOM) solution to meet our…
Read MoreThe Nexus of Possibilities
During my time at XTAR, I have refined my elevator speech on XTAR’s value proposition and how the company is unique in the satellite communications world. To be clear, when I say, “unique”, I mean, one of a kind — not just special. This is because no other company brings together the service characteristics of…
Read MoreWhy won’t DoD see the light?
Commercial satellite operators can justly claim a portion of credit for the successful DoD missions in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade and a half, and before that during the Balkans conflicts. We’ve reallocated transponders by the dozen, steered beams from other regions into Southwest Asia (SWA) and the Middle East (ME), moved satellites…
Read MoreSpace Architecture: Commercial Investment Requires Commitment from DoD
In recent years, DoD has been concerned about the “vulnerability” of commercial spacecraft and has imposed Information Assurance (IA) criteria onto satellite operators. DoD is now discussing what they see as a significant lack of “protection features” such as anti-jam capabilities, beam-forming technologies and other items that might make commercial satellites look more like military…
Read MoreSatellite Industry Frets About Future Military Business
National Defense – The Pentagon spends about a billion dollars a year on satellite communications services from commercial vendors, which supply about 80 percent of the military’s demand. The industry is worried, however, about the future of its Defense Department business, for several reasons.
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