Viasat is evolving beyond its established position as a satellite broadband provider, now focusing on developing customized spacecraft for the U.S. military. This strategic shift aligns with the Pentagon's initiative to leverage commercial technology for secure communications in orbit. According to Craig Miller, president of Viasat Government, the company is leveraging its commercial satellite portfolio to compete within both the U.S. military and international satellite markets.
Based in Carlsbad, California, Viasat has engineered a dual-band geostationary satellite for the U.S. Space Force’s Protected Tactical Satcom-Global (PTS-G) program. This program aims to deploy smaller, jam-resistant satellites constructed using commercial principles. “PTS-G is an expansion and a new area for us,” Miller said. “We think this is a really good opportunity for us to move up the value chain and become a payload provider, an actual satellite provider for these military satcom systems.”
This summer, the Space Systems Command awarded initial contracts to Astranis, Boeing, Intelsat, Northrop Grumman and Viasat under a $4 billion 15-year IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) agreement. The initial contracts, valued at $37.5 million, require each contractor to submit satellite and ground architecture designs by early 2026, based on their commercial product lines. The first PTS-G constellation launches are projected for 2028, with subsequent production and launches planned for 2031.
Viasat’s proposal revolves around a dual-band X/Ka-band small geostationary satellite architecture, drawing on existing commercial technology, especially its Viasat-3 high-throughput broadband satellites. The first ViaSat-3 satellite, launched in April 2023, provides services to military customers in the United States despite antenna deployment issues. The second Viasat-3 is scheduled to launch in late October. “PTS-G satellites have to comply with a very specific set of requirements that the Space Force has asked all the bidders to comply with,” said Miller. “Because it’s X and Ka-band, we are using some of the core technology that’s in the ViaSat-3 satellite.”
Viasat created a satellite that can host both X and Ka-band payloads on a single platform, rather than requiring two dedicated satellites. “I wouldn’t quite call it a mini GEO, but it is a smaller satellite,” Miller said. The company's push into the defense satellite market follows its 2023 acquisition of Inmarsat, expanding its space assets and shifting its business strategy toward mobility and government markets. This led to the cancellation of plans for a Viasat-4 satellite. For PTS-G, “we are using some of the same payload technology that we developed for Viasat-3 and for a Viasat-4 we had in development that expanded on the capabilities of Viasat-3,” Miller noted.
Viasat’s small GEO satellite strategy goes beyond PTS-G. The United Kingdom and Australia are seeking new broadband capabilities interoperable with the United States, according to Miller. “Other international partners have also reached out to us, basically interested in a similar offering for what we’re doing for PTS-G.” Viasat offers a commercial small GEO satellite solution, Ultra-GEO, targeting sovereign nations and regional operators seeking a turnkey constellation. Miller also indicated Viasat's intent to bid for contracts under the U.S. Space Force's Maneuverable Geosynchronous Orbit Commercial Satellite-Based Services program, or MGEO, which seeks to utilize commercial geostationary small satellites for enhanced military communications.
The MGEO program encompasses a range of services, allowing for diverse business models, Miller said. One concept is "condosats," combining commercial and defense payloads on a single satellite. “You could use the commercial mission to offset the price of the defense mission,” Miller said. The Space Force seeks smaller satellites capable of orbital maneuvers to adapt to evolving mission requirements. “You could go ahead and move it to a different orbital slot, which takes a couple weeks, but once it lands there, it would be able to function.”
Miller highlighted the evolution of satellite technology, noting that Viasat-3 was designed to be orbit agnostic. When the first Viasat-3 satellite faced an anomaly, the coverage area was shifted westward. The upcoming Viasat-3 F2 will cover the Americas instead of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. "Basically any of the three ViaSat-3 satellites can operate in any of the three orbital locations where we had planned to put them,” said Miller. Viasat is also considering the Golden Dome missile defense program and working on a multi-band, space-based relay communications architecture under NASA’s Communications Services Project. "You’re going to want resilience for this. You can’t put all your eggs in one basket, and so these interceptors are going to have to have multiple communications paths.” Viasat will also compete in a Golden Dome tech demonstration. “We are familiar with Link-182,” said Miller, describing it as a data link standard for the MILNET network. “We can provide ground infrastructure and support for that. And we do have a solution for a space-based platform that can host Link-182.”