Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch: DoD Should Embrace Satcom as a Service, Advance ‘Commercial First’ Approach

Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch of Inmarsat Government has said the Department of Defense should make a few steps in order to emerge as a better satellite communications customer and one is eliminating the one-size-fits-all approach to satcom acquisition.

Cowen-Hirsch, senior vice president for government strategy and policy at Inmarsat Government, wrote in a National Defense opinion piece published Friday that such an approach prevents users from using a complete range of platforms, "inclusive of managed services with predicable performance service level agreements, that will enable them to do their jobs."

DoD should establish an integrated infrastructure with a “commercial first” strategy and advance the use of satcom-as-a-service model, she noted.

Satcom as a service “has set the standard as a satellite acquisition model for the modern age, enabling servicemen and women anytime, anywhere ready access to robust and resilient capabilities at time and place of their choice,” Cowen-Hirsch wrote.

“Designed for global mobility, it provides a critical end-to-end communication infrastructure that is owned and managed by trusted commercial operators and includes the space and ground segment elements as well as type approved terminals that deliver seamless global connectivity,” she added.