Jay Clemens
The U.S. Air Force is looking to outsource the operations of its wideband global satellite communications network to a commercial company by 2016, Defense News reported Thursday.
Aaron Mehta writes that the goal is to allow Air Force crews to focus on the battle management aspect of the satellite constellation.
Crew members at present work to track and maintain the WGS network on a daily basis, according to the report.
“That’s traditionally a job the service providers do, and we use a squadron to do it,†Dave Madden, director of the military satellite communications systems directorate at Space and Missile Systems Center, told a breakfast meeting.
“In most cases, the commercial guys are doing it with three to four people,†he said.
The satellite constellation is intended to provide bandwidth for command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and battle management requirements, Defense News reports.
