EHF options for contested SATCOM

The capacity limitations and jamming vulnerability of transponder satellites, both commercial and military, are of increasing concern to warfighters heavily dependent on SATCOM for beyond-line-of-sight connectivity. EHF payloads offer a robust, jam-resistant waveform but capacity is limited and both satellites and terminals are expensive. This paper will explore options for incorporating the essential anti-jam features of EHF waveforms outside of the limited realm of EHF satellites. These options include using some features of protected waveforms to reduce the vulnerability of transponder satellites (both commercial and military) to jamming. Another option is hosting military SATCOM payloads on commercial satellite buses or on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). By paring the features of EHF waveforms to only those required to provide essential anti-jam capability significant reductions in size, weight power development cost and risk can be achieved. These reductions make hosted payloads, whether on UAS or on commercial SATCOM buses much more feasible as a means of mitigating the shortfall in anti-jam beyond-line-of-sight communication capacity.