Pentagon research leader says U.S. military forces cannot rely on commercial satellite communication

[rangerrebew]

Pentagon research leader says U.S. military forces cannot rely on commercial satellite communications alone

Skepticism about the viability of commercial SATCOM for global broadband and Internet services is at odds with enthusiasm at the Air Force and the Army.
Dec 20th, 2019
Dod Satcom Griffin 20 Dec 2019

WASHINGTON – Communications satellite constellations such as those being launched by SpaceX, OneWeb, Telesat, and Amazon, haven’t proven they can make money so the U.S. military needs to build its own low Earth orbit (LEO) network, says DoD Research & Engineering czar Mike Griffin.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

20 Dec. 2019 -- This puts Griffin somewhat at odds with the Air Force and Army, which are going full steam ahead to try to leverage the new LEO satellite communications (SATCOM) systems.

But Griffin says the business case for commercial broadband and Internet mega-constellations in LEO “is a tough one to close. I won’t say that it is permanently un-closable … but it is a tough business case.”

https://www.militaryaerospace.com/communications/article/14073958/satcom-military-commercial