Prism phased array satellite antenna. Credit: Northwood Space
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force is launching a new competition for mobile satellite-control antennas, formally restarting a program it canceled after abandoning a $1.7 billion contract with AeroVironment and shifting toward a more commercial procurement strategy.
The Space Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office earlier this month issued a pre-solicitation under the Satellite Communication Augmentation Resource program, known as SCAR, seeking industry proposals for electronically steered phased-array antennas that can supplement the military’s aging Satellite Control Network.
The solicitation is the latest step in the government’s effort to reset a program originally awarded in 2022 to BlueHalo, later acquired by AeroVironment. The contract was terminated after the government decided to shift its acquisition strategy away from a single-vendor arrangement toward an open competition built around commercially developed systems rather than a customized design.
SCAR was created to address growing capacity constraints in the Satellite Control Network, a global system of military ground stations used to track, monitor and command U.S. satellites. These network terminals rely on large mechanically steered dishes that typically communicate with one spacecraft at a time, limiting throughput as the number of military satellites grows.
