The Air Force is conducting market research to determine how it can enhance the anti-jam capability of the Wideband Global Satellite Communications satellite system. According to an Aug. 26 notice to industry, the Space and Missile Systems Center MILSATCOM Program Office “intends to release a solicitation” later this month “to acquire enhanced ground based X-band anti-jam capability for the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite constellation.” The solution will be applied via hardware and/or software upgrades to the satellite’s ground control system and will enhance “existing satellite telemetry and functionality to detect, locate, and respond to WGS X-band jamming events.” The four-year project will begin in Fiscal 2015, with the new anti-jamming capability to begin fielding no later that FY17. Sources are to be submitted by Sept. 10.
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
