Jay Clemens
Inmarsat’s Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch and Rick Lober of Hughes Network Systems have recommended the use of commercial systems to help fulfill the government’s satellite requirements as constellations start to age, Space News Magazine reported Oct. 24.
Cowen-Hirsch, a senior vice president at Inmarsat, told Space News military officials should consider commercial technologies for their broadband communications functions instead of acquisitions to fill gaps in military satellite coverage.
She said military satellites should reserved for specific missions, surge capacity and extreme scenarios, according to the report by Debra Werner.
Rick Lober, VP and general manager of Hughes’ defense and intelligence systems division, told the publication many customers in the space community are reluctant to take in “less than gold-plated solutionsâ€Â despite budget pressures faced by the Defense Department within the past few years.
“The opportunity lies in engaging with commercial industry to learn what capabilities we are investing in so that it becomes an intentional forethought on what the architectural concepts could be,†Cowen-Hirsch said, according to the magazine.
