BlueHalo’s phased-array antenna system, called BADGER, will provide a crucial upgrade for the Space Force’s decaying Space Control Network. (Photo: BlueHalo)
AMOS 2023 — Virginia-based startup BlueHalo has passed a first milestone in testing of a new antenna system to upgrade the Space Force’s antiquated Satellite Control Network (SCN), and is “on track” to deliver a first unit by spring of 2025, according to Kelly Hammett, who leads the independent Space Rapid Capabilities Office (SpRCO) that is managing the effort.
Further, he told Breaking Defense in an interview Friday at the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) Conference that his office is trying to figure out if fielding of new antennas can be accelerated, given the fact that the SCN is in dire need of modernization.
“I don’t know that we can. We tried to look at it, but there’s a big supply chain issue and just work that needs to be done. But they are on track, which is fantastic,” he said.
The SCN primarily supports launches and early satellite operations, tracks and controls satellites, and provides emergency support to tumbling and lost satellites for constellations owned by the US military, the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As well as the operations center at Schriever SFB in Colorado, the network comprises 19 antennas and ground systems at seven locations around the globe.
SpRCO, created by Congress in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act to rapidly field capabilities to US Space Command, last May launched the Satellite Communications Augmentation Resource (SCAR) program designed to field new phased array antennas for the SCN by the early 2030s. Unlike the current SCN antennas, which can talk to only one satellite at a time, phased array models can simultaneously contact many satellites.
SpRCO awarded an Other Transaction Authority agreement with a ceiling of $1.4 billion to BlueHalo in May 2022 for demonstration and delivery of its BADGER system, a multi-band, deployable ground terminal.
BADGER’s first demonstration, held in late August, “marks the first end-to-end test of the steerable phased array modules and software,” Col. Greg Hoffman, of SpRCO’s Strategic Capabilities Acquisition Delta, told Breaking Defense in an email.
“This sub-scale version of a full BADGER antenna and operations software contains the building blocks of the future units and reduces significant technical risk for the SCAR program,” he added.
Mary Clum, BlueHalo corporate executive vice president, told Breaking Defense in an email that “having successfully demonstrated the critical phased array technology contained in BADGER, BlueHalo is moving rapidly to a full-scale BADGER build next year.”
She explained that the BADGER system is based on linking together individual “Multi-band Software Defined Antenna (MSDA) Tiles” that each process beamforming functions. “Working together, the aggregated MSDA tiles within a BADGER unit are capable of building larger, fully digital software-defined apertures based on mission needs. BADGER uses this MSDA technology to simultaneously contact more than 10 satellites per system.”
Hammett said that the initial SCAR program plan was to field 12 of the BADGER units, but that plan is somewhat up in the air due to a lack of funds.
“We don’t have the money to do 12,” he said, but noted that there has been a “lot of attention” on SCN needs for modern antennas following an April report by the Government Accountability Office highlighting the fact that the critical network is no longer fit for purpose.
“So, I think we’ll see what comes out in the [fiscal 2025] budget, but the [Department of the Air Force budget officials] were looking at plussing us up to add some more,” he said.
