A rapidly developed Protected Tactical SATCOM Prototype (PTS-P) has passed the critical design review stage, Boeing announced on 16 March.
Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems is working with the US Space Force on PTS-P to provide high levels of protection for US and allied SATCOM with reduced latency.
In particular, PTS-P will be the first space-based hub for the US military’s jam-resistant Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW) ‘with network routing that exceeds objective requirements’, Boeing noted.
Host vehicle integration and testing will begin in 2023 and the scalable, software-defined payload on PTS-P is scheduled for an on-orbit demonstration after a 2024 launch.