'T-Sat Lite' on tap to replace troubled satellite program.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Battlefield Communications

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SAN DIEGO -- The transformational satellite program--as its name suggests--is designed to revolutionize military communications by supplying vast amounts of bandwidth to troops on the ground.

But that vision is now in jeopardy as the Defense Department reviews the program.

But T-Sat, as it is better known, isn't dead, one official said at the Milcom conference here.

"The capability that's crucial to the war fighter that T-Sat will provide, I believe, will be delivered," said Vice Adm. Nancy Brown, director of command, control, communications and computers at the joints chiefs of staff.

The program ultimately will survive, Brown and other officials said, because the military has an insatiable demand for bandwidth that is projected to grow exponentially with the addition of more sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles and the services' desire to operate in integrated networks.

T-Sat, however, won't exactly be what was first envisioned, Brown noted.

The joint chiefs of staff are studying the problem, she said.

"Based on that, we will put a new program in place to deliver that capability," she said.

The first launch has now been pushed back to the 2018 or 2019 timeframe, she said. That's two years later than what the Air Force proposed one year ago. "While the original program of record has been scoped down a little bit, the crucial capabilities that were in there have survived," she added.

There might be a "qualifier" in front of the program's name or behind it, she said.

Some experts in the industry are already referring to the new iteration as "T-Sat Lite."

T-Sat was planned as the last in a series of new military communications satellites that promises to deliver more broadband over what is currently available.

The first of the wideband global communications satellites, formerly known as the wideband gap-filler, was launched in 2007 and will replace the 1980s defense satellite communications systems III. There are five spacecraft under contract.

The launch of the first of the Advanced EHF satellites, slated for early this year, will begin to replace the Milstar constellation.

T-Sat was to use powerful Kuband transponders and laser-based communications that are virtually impossible to jam to bring the global information grid down to tactical levels. The original system was to employ up to six satellites.

The Air Force and its contractors have been developing key technologies for the past five years.

T-Sat would dramatically...