BETHESDA, Md. - Intelsat General Corp. (IGC) is one of four companies awarded a contract by the United States Air Force (USAF) to study the viability of using commercial facilities and operations expertise for the tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C) of government satellites.
The goal of the contract, known as the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) Commercial Provisioning (CP) study, is to provide USAF Space Command with a detailed plan for leveraging commercial TT&C facilities and capabilities to substantially reduce operations and maintenance costs while enabling the government to meet national security space objectives and warfighter operational needs. The USAF has stated that a future space concept of operations could include a mix of government and commercial command and control networks.
"It is the objective of this study to determine possible methods of transitioning this requirement to the commercial sector to achieve cost efficiencies in the new budgetary environment," said Kay Sears, President of Intelsat General.
The AFSCN currently controls government satellites using 15 ground-based TT&C antennas at 7 locations around the world staffed by a mix of military personnel and private contractors.
In performing the study, Intelsat General will partner with Braxton Technologies, a company based in Colorado Springs, CO, with more than 20 years of experience delivering TT&C systems to the USAF for its satellite control systems. Braxton is currently working on contracts from the Air Force Research Lab related to AFSCN scheduling improvements and portable test equipment.
The study, to be completed within 90 days, will outline a plan of how the TT&C functions of government satellites could be passed over to commercial companies over a two to five year period.
Contract specifics were not revealed in Intelsat announcements. However, in a request for information (RFI) issued by the Air Force at December 2013, the service indicated it wanted to spend $400,000 to $600,000, split between two to three contractors, on the study. Since Intelsat indicated four companies were awarded contracts, it is not clear is the USAF is spending more money or awarding each contractor a smaller portion of the originally planned sum.
According to Frank Backes, CEO of Braxton Technologies, the commercial market has driven the cost of ground TT&C antenna architecture to about one-fifth of what it costs the USAF to operate the AFSCN. If this estimate holds true, the commercialization of the Air Force's satellite control network could offer significant savings to the service. In Fiscal Year 2013, the Air Force spent $78 million on the network. That figure dropped to $66 million in FY14, but in FY15, the Pentagon's request increased to $75 million.
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