The leading commercial Satellite Service Providers are supplying Satcom services with increased network capacity, vastly improved end-user terminal data rates, lower cost of deliver and embedded Cyber security defenses.  Taken together these capabilities promise to close many of the operational gaps in National Security Space before the deployment of the Space Enterprise Vision/Space Warfighter Construct.

The Department and Air Force leadership have stated that Space and Cyber superiority are essential for effective Land, Air, and Sea Operations in any game, home or away.  This paper will discuss gins in Space and Cyber superiority by closing operational gaps including the ability to operate fully in close proximity to near-peer jammers, in denied GBS regions, in the presence of near-peer cyber-attacks, and against numerous other attack vectors.

The paper will present the opportunities to impose new costs on to potential adversaries as well as denying them of the confidence that they will be able to disrupt these new Satcom services.

The paper will provide direct performance comparisons between these commercial high-capacity satellites (HCS) and satellite services and the Department’s purpose-built and leased commercial communication satellites and satellite services from the perspectives of capacity density, resilience performance, and investment cost.

The conclusion of this paper is intended to form a commercial market baseline of commercial HCS and satellite services to inform the Department’s upcoming Wideband Analysis-of-Alternatives (AoA).