The Military Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Market
by Michelle Elbert
Los Angeles, Calif., August 4, 2011-- Government and military clients are looking to meet global challenges yet spend more efficiently. In the US, deficit-reduction efforts have caused DoD and its various branches to make serious changes in how it acquires goods and services. During his speech at the AFCEA West conference in early 2011, Undersecretary of the Navy Robert O. Work stressed the commitment of the Navy to “buy smarter” with a budget that was capped at 2010 levels. In an American Forces Press article Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Ashton B. Carter is quoted giving the example that $100 billion of the defense budget goes to weapons systems procurement, $70 billion of which goes to sustaining already procured systems.
The desire to get a better value for a budget, to not only “buy smarter” but maintain current assets at a more efficient rate, can represent a boon to the satellite industry, particularly in the Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) area. President Obama's National Space Policy encourages the use of commercial space capabilities and services when they meet, or can be modified to meet, government standards at a cost effective price in a timely manner. The policy also encourages transferring routine, non-sensitive, space functions to the commercial sector.
In the U.S. and abroad, one of the popular COTS products which can serve government and military clients with little need for customization is Comms On The Move (COTM). The first case of in-motion COTM was 2003 when an antenna system and a RADOME developed by SeaTel for maritime applications was attached to a Ford pickup truck and used by an NBC reporter embedded in a convoy moving into Baghdad. Since then, the technology in Ku-band COTM has been established for military and emergency responders.
The ability to set up a command center with full communication somewhere, then move it elsewhere as needed easily is attractive from a tactical view and also more economical.
Antenna providers such as AvL offer both “fly-away” and vehicle mounted auto-acquiring models for use at the halt. However, in-motion Vehicle Mounted Earth Stations (VMES) have progressed to where it is unnecessary to stop or transport equipment cases to a location, deploy the antenna, and then pack up when a change in venue is needed. Instead. all of the equipment is mounted on and housed in a vehicle, so a constant state of deployment even in-motion is possible. COTM systems also provide a high degree of mobility, coming in a complete package, such as Cobham's TracStar IMVS 450, part of a line of products initially developed for in-motion satellite TV. Companies like COBHAM TracStar, L3 DATRON, KVH Industries, and others, offer COTM systems on a global basis.
A transportable or vehicle mounted system can be put together from COTS components. Some of these include transmitters, such as ATCi's ATZK – 0100 block up converter which provides up to 100 watts of transmit power and accepts L-band input and the military-grade receivers purchased from Avcom of Virginia for the U.S. Army's JNN/WIN-T program.
Other needs can be served by COTS options such as Globecomm's Everything-Over-IP network services and ViaSat's standard Joint IP Modem (JIPM). These allow disparate IP based peripherals to send and receive data more efficiently and through a single pipe, customized to the required frequency by the RF equipment.
The X band and UHF frequencies are reserved to government and military applications; however, the truly off-the-shelf products and services tend toward Ku-band. “Hosted payloads” on commercial satellites, another service encouraged by the National Space Policy, are commercially developed and operated to provide customized bandwidth to military and industrial clients. X band and UHF satellites are owned and wholly controlled by governments.
However, while fully owned satellites bring in control and security, Ku-band satellites are capable of keeping a network secure enough for all but the top security applications and have the strength of numbers. Ku-band blankets nearly all of the inhabited and traveled parts of the globe. Where a footprint doesn't already exist, providers may have “spare” satellites already in orbit, ready to be moved into place once the client signs off.
Federal and local procurement organizations that procure hardware and services are now equipped to deal effectively in the COTS arena.
For example, the DoD’s Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) partnered on acquisition activities called Future COMSATCOM Services Acquisition (FCSA). This is intended to replace current DISA and GSA contracts which will be expiring in 2012. During 2010, FCSA solicited for specific end-to-end satellite communications solutions. (These were posted on the fbo.govwebsite.) Importantly, they are excepting offers for specific satellite services “which require no development or systems integration activities” on a continual basis.
Agencies and departments often issue Requests for Information (RFIs) and Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to contract directly with vendors, though the project in question may not always be completely made up of COTS elements.
An example of this is a recent RFI by SPAWAR regarding an complete fixed earth station. The title and text of the request references commercial-off-the-shelf specifically; however, the project involves proprietary government technology such as X-band frequency transmission and pre-existing software customized for government and military applications. The COTS products are intended to reduce overall cost yet provide the government with hard-hitting capabilities.
As a general rule, the commercial satellite communications industry has met the demand of government for rapidly deployable equipment and services.
The particular benefits of Ku-band satellite capacity in the Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) band along with broadband Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) ground systems were recognized throughout the past decade. Moving forward, the industry has continued to innovate to meet government requirements, yet maintain the cost-effectiveness in which the COTS approach excels.
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Michelle Elbert is the Director of Marketing of Satellite Markets and Research and concurrently a consultant with Application Technology Strategy, Inc. She has extensive experience in the satellite and IT industries and has an M.B.A. from Concordia University. She can be reached at: michelle@satellitemarkets.com
