Just as businesses and consumers seek connectivity no matter where they are, so do military and government users.
Constellations spoke with Kevin Steen, CEO of OneWeb Technologies, a subsidiary of OneWeb, about the unabated demand for connectivity and the more prominent role that LEO constellations are playing particularly for the U.S. government, and the unique needs that come with that.
Steen described OneWeb Technologies as focused on delivering secure, resilient connectivity to support U.S. government requirements, based on a LEO constellation with “value-added services wrapped around it.”
Those use cases, he said, ranged from the military branches and the “three letter agencies,” to locally funded state initiatives, including police, fire, and first responders, as well as prison bureaus, border protection and more.
He clarified that OneWeb Technologies was separate from its foreign-based parent OneWeb. Because of its sole focus on the U.S. government, it is structured as a ‘proxy company,’ complete with its own board, to protect the interest of the U.S. government when doing business with a U.S. entity owned by a foreign company.
The Value-add of LEOs
Steen said the value of LEO constellations for the military was not just to provide broadband, but rather low latency broadband, which was mission critical for the applications that required it.
“The modern applications that are being developed require low latency. They assume low latency in their design. That's number one.”
Also, the ability to provide coverage where there is none, such as the polar regions, where GEO satellites don’t typically extend that far north. In contrast, he said, LEO constellations might provide connectivity “no matter where you are on the globe.”
It is that combination of low latency and bandwidth that is key to providing the military with connectivity and data for real-time decision-making.
“It's having the right info at the right time with the right intelligence,” he said of the ability to support time-sensitive, critical decision-making, and why the military and the U.S. government more broadly is looking for low latency satellite broadband.
Other LEO-enabled applications he pointed to were the smaller lightweight ultra-portable terminals that users can take anywhere, unmanned operations on land, sea, and air, where real-time low latency connectivity is paramount, and even connectivity between satellites instead of sending traffic to the ground in some cases.
“Those are the kinds of specialized services that they are looking for as satellite becomes a true, broader domain, if you will, in defending our country and protecting our interests.”
Hyper-critical Resiliency
But serving the government, where resiliency is paramount, also comes with stringent requirements. Steen spoke of their commercial solutions being tailored to meet or exceed U.S. government and critical business infrastructure security needs, citing NIST (the National Institute of Standards Technology), the cybersecurity maturity model (CMMC) and other “information assurance pre-requirements.”
“What we have built, designed and architected is based on their requirements,” he said of ensuring the link for government users is reliable, resilient, and secure.
“Our link quality or link capability is getting closer and closer to terrestrial levels, and we continue to push those boundaries,” he said of the continued investment. “They are our sole mission. We designed it to their standards and requirements. We bear that risk.”
Shared Risk
As for how the government could better work with commercial SATCOM companies when it may need their services in time of conflict, Steen suggested continued funding for R&D and joint testing, and the overall ability to react faster.
“Get those capabilities we have out there, let's test it, make sure it works, and make sure that it works the way that the soldiers and others are going to use it or depend on it.”
He also pointed to flexibility in funding vehicles and the ability to move quickly in such times. “We need to react quickly with the ability to contract or handle an acquisition rapidly, almost like a commercial style,” he said, comparing it to the framework in place when consumers buy a house
Collaboration or Competition
Asked about the risk of being displaced should the government build out its own LEO constellation, Steen said he sees it more as a partnership and a collaboration than a competition. He pointed to the example of the government augmenting its GEO satellites when capacity was outstripped, suggesting that the trend of weaving in commercial capabilities would continue.
“It gives them access to a broader swath of commercial technology that is much more than they could probably develop on their own, faster time to market and such. It will give them flexibility and diversity in their portfolio and their ecosystem of technologies.”
Into the Future
As the demand for connectivity continues, Steen believes that what satellite communications can do and the problems it can solve will only continue to expand. By continuing to enhance, augment, and build out a more “secure, robust, and resilient network, with a broader footprint to deliver new services,” he expects the U.S. government will want to take advantage of it.
“Our focus is 100% on the U.S. government, be it those branches that we described for the military or those government agencies or federally and state funded programs. Those are the investments we are making now and continue to make.”
To hear more on the unique aspects of LEO constellations, the importance of standards and interoperability, and how OneWeb Technologies differs from other constellations such as Starlink, click here.
