![\"250623_bluehalo_badger_HANDOUT\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/250623_bluehalo_badger_HANDOUT-e1750709391493.jpeg\")
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AV BlueHalo\u2019s Badger terminal housing its new phased-array antenna at a company facility. (AV BlueHalo)<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 The Space Force hopes to soon be able provide new orbital warfare<\/a> capability to operators through integrating the modern phased-array antennas being developed under its Satellite Communications Augmentation Resource (SCAR)<\/a> program with its R2C2<\/a> satellite command and control software, according to senior program officials.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is always a challenge to get everybody on board simultaneously linked up, and that\u2019s why the priority that\u2019s being placed on SCAR and R2C2 is really helpful, because we will get the priority from the operators and the testers,\u201d said Kelly Hammett, director of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office (Space RCO)<\/a>, which is spearheading the effort.<\/p>\n While caveating that \u201ceverything is pre-decisional\u201d for the fiscal 2026 budget, Hammett told Breaking Defense that \u201cfrom a force design perspective, I think the service has come around to a position that we\u2019re going to need a bunch of SCARs, and we\u2019re going to need them as fast as we can make them.\u201d<\/p>\n The SCAR antennas are being designed to modernize the antiquate\u00a0old-style parabolic antennas<\/a> now used by the Satellite Control Network (SCN)<\/a> \u2014 specifically optimized to work with future satellites that can maneuver rapidly to avoid, or potentially attack, other satellites. The SCN comprises 19 fixed antennas located at seven locations around the world and performs control functions consisting of tracking (determining where a satellite is located), telemetry (collecting information about its health and status) and command (transmitting signals to control subsystems and maneuvering satellites if necessary) for a large portion of Space Force birds.<\/p>\n Parabolic antennas can only talk to one satellite at a time, where as phased array antennas can connect with multiple satellites simultaneously. SCN already is being overwhelmed<\/a> as the Space Force fields a flock of new satellites, and will be even more important in the future when the service deploys more satellites capable of moving <\/a>faster, farther and for longer time spans in order to conduct satellite warfare.<\/p>\n \u201c[T]his capability is so important to where we\u2019re headed in the next couple of years, with having the capacity to make the SCN stand up to all the new systems that are coming and all the new mission requirements that they\u2019re going to have,\u201d Hammett said.<\/p>\n Under the current SCAR program, three units are funded<\/a> \u2014 two of which are destined to go to Indo-Pacific Command.<\/p>\n Mary Clum, executive vice president of AV\u2019s Space and Directed Energy Mission Systems group, explained that the company expects to deliver its first batch of \u201coperational\u201d antenna tiles (modular flat panels that are combined to create phased array antennas) to Space RCO this summer.<\/p>\n Further, the first antenna \u201cunit is on track for delivery at the end of the year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Thus, she and Hammett explained, the company is preparing now to integrate the antennas with the R2C2 (for Rapid Resilient Command and Control) software that Space RCO already is testing<\/a> on experimental Space Force satellites. The idea is to get that first antenna working as soon as possible after delivery, and to do the same with each unit as it gets delivered.<\/p>\n R2C2 is a joint program between Space RCO and the Space Force\u2019s primary acquisition unit\u00a0Space Systems Command (SSC)<\/a>\u00a0aimed at rapidly fielding C2 capabilities for use by systems performing what the service calls dynamic space operations.<\/a> Eventually, the idea is that all of the maneuverable satellite systems operated by the Space Force\u2019s Delta 9 responsible for orbital warfare will use R2C2, Hammett said last December<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hammett said that Space RCO is \u201cleveraging AWS cloud infrastructure for R2C2,\u201d noting that it is \u201cthe first big program to do that in the service, particularly at multiple classification levels.\u201d<\/p>\n He explained that this will make it easier for operators in the field to use the system and provide feedback on how to improve it.<\/p>\n Clum noted that even though the SCAR program is focused on antennas for satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO), a first test by the company showed they also will be able to connect to satellites in medium and low Earth orbits. This capability also will become more important in the future as the Space Force attempts to create an overarching \u201chybrid\u201d mesh network linking military and commercial satellites across all orbits.<\/p>\n \t\tRecommended\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AV BlueHalo\u2019s Badger terminal housing its new phased-array antenna at a company facility. (AV BlueHalo) WASHINGTON \u2014 The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[11262,11263,11264,11265,11266,11267,159,783,11268,11269,11270,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-10345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-dynamic-space-operations","9":"tag-kelly-hammett","10":"tag-orbital-warfare","11":"tag-rapid-resilient-command-and-control-r2c2","12":"tag-satellite-communications-augmentation-resource-scar","13":"tag-satellite-control-network","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-space","16":"tag-space-force","17":"tag-space-force-delta-9","18":"tag-space-rapid-capabilities-office","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114737574364963091","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}