Keeping the military’s nuclear command chain alive during a conflict requires communications links that can survive electronic attack. The Space Force just hired a new contractor to write the software that manages those links.
Sphinx Defense won a $287 million deal to build the mission planning application for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications program, a next-generation constellation designed to replace the aging AEHF network. Space Systems Command announced the award July 27.
Behind the OTA vehicle
The contract was issued through the Space Enterprise Consortium using an Other Transaction Authority, a flexible procurement tool that lets the Pentagon fund prototype work outside normal federal acquisition rules. It covers software that will schedule transmissions, allocate bandwidth and manage communications traffic across Boeing’s future ESS satellite fleet.
The company builds ground systems for satellite operations, handling scheduling and network management tasks. Its contribution to ESS will sit at the intersection of the satellite constellation and the strategic forces that depend on it.
End of an era for AEHF
Lockheed Martin’s AEHF constellation has provided protected military communications for more than a decade, but the system was designed before modern jamming and spoofing threats became routine. ESS is engineered with tougher encryption and anti-jam capabilities from the ground up.
Boeing is developing the spacecraft under its own $2.8 billion award from last year, with the first two satellites now in production and options for two follow-on units. Combined, the satellite and software contracts push the program past $3 billion as Pentagon planners target an early-2030s operational debut.
