Teleport Program

The Teleport Program, managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), is a key initiative within the Department of Defense (DoD) budget focused on enhancing the resilience and operational effectiveness of the DoD Satellite Communications (SATCOM) ground infrastructure. The primary objective of this program element is to address limitations in current ground infrastructure, which relies heavily on manual reconfiguration and lacks automated coordination capabilities. The program is designed to support the development, integration, and testing of advanced ground management and control systems that interface with the emerging Enterprise Satellite Communications Management and Control (ESC-MC) architecture.

Under the Resilient Ground Infrastructure (RGI) line item, the program supports research, development, testing, and evaluation of solutions for automating and optimizing the management of SATCOM ground entry points (GEPs). The RGI initiative is driven by findings from the Gateway Optimization and Resiliency (GOaR) Study, which identified the need for improved technology, increased capacity, and enhanced redundancy across GEPs to ensure continued support for warfighting missions, even in the event of outages or disruptions. The study emphasized the importance of providing redundancy across multiple frequency bands and sites, and the necessity for automated resource allocation and situational awareness.

A major goal of the Teleport Program is to develop a software-enabled ground management and control capability that reduces manual intervention and enables machine-to-machine exchanges with ESC-MC. This will allow for real-time data sharing, improved situational awareness, and a common operating picture of the SATCOM environment. The automated system will facilitate rapid allocation and reallocation of SATCOM resources, significantly reducing the time required to respond to dynamic operational needs from weeks or months to hours. This capability is critical for supporting U.S. warfighters and ensuring the resilience of communications infrastructure in contested environments.

The program also includes specific objectives to integrate commercial Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services into the DoD SATCOM Enterprise. For MEO integration, DISA plans to upgrade engineering lab facilities and develop solutions to adapt existing Teleport modems for use with MEO constellations. This integration is expected to provide increased bandwidth, reduced latency, and improved coverage, thereby enhancing the overall performance and flexibility of DoD communications.

Similarly, the integration of LEO satellite services is a priority, given their potential to deliver low-latency communications and coverage in polar regions where geosynchronous satellites are less effective. Research, development, testing, and evaluation funding will be used to equip engineering labs for comprehensive testing and to develop seamless connectivity solutions for DoD users accessing commercial LEO services through the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN). This will enable ground integration of LEO/MEO services and expand access to terrestrial DoDIN and DISN services for operational users.

The Enterprise Satellite Management and Control (ESC-MC) component of the program will conduct detailed analysis to define requirements for the ground management and control system. The goal is to enable automated status reporting, resource allocation, and orchestration across all segments of the SATCOM enterprise. This integration will support a unified approach to managing SATCOM resources and improve the ability to respond to changing mission requirements.