REQUEST FOR INFORMATION PROTECTED TACTICAL SATCOM (PTS)

The US military needs to preserve its asymmetrical advantage given a contested, degraded, and operationally limited space environment. SSC seeks to obtain protected tactical SATCOM systems that will maintain service despite the threats as well as provide long-term functionality and efficiency.

The centerpiece of the PTS system is a new, more resilient waveform named the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW), which is the enabler for the Protected Anti-Jam Tactical SATCOM (PATS) concept of operations. PTW is designed to mitigate the effects of advanced jamming. The US military will be migrating to PTW to ensure delivery of protected tactical SATCOM to the joint and coalition warfighters in contested, degraded environments.

SSC is in the process of operationalizing the PTW capability by developing production-representative PTW modems that can be used by the Services to upgrade their currently fielded terminals such as the Navy Multiband Terminal (NMT), Ground Multiband Terminal (GMT), Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T), and airborne terminals. SSC established the Army/Air Force Anti-Jam Modem (A3M) program allowing users to buy PTW modems using an IDIQ contract once the modems are available. In conjunction with modem development, the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) program is developing a mission management system (MMS), key management system (KMS), and hub system to enable PTW via transponded WGS satellites, with future extension to PTS and commercial SATCOM.

PTS space payloads, with on-board PTW processing, will increase the PATS anti-jam capability, bringing the most advanced anti-jam capability to the warfighter. As such, PTS is integral to the PATS concept of operations and essential to meet the demands of our warfighters.

The PTS Program Office awarded three prototyping contracts in FY20 to develop, mature, and demonstrate low-cost payloads that feature protected anti-jam capabilities using PTW. After the preliminary design phase, two contractors were selected to continue payload development and be available for launch in the late FY24 timeframe.

The Program Office is preparing for the acquisition of the next phase of PTS as the future hybrid SATCOM architecture is defined.