Under the revisited project to acquire space communications, Defence plans to start out with a basic geostationary satellite capability to enter service quickly with a service life under half the lifespan of traditional communications satellites in geostationary orbit.
Defence plans to acquire the long-awaited sovereign space communications capability through four lines of effort.
Number one is the wideband SATCOM system and services, two is narrowband services, three is the ground control systems and four is alternative ways of dealing with the challenges of space communication.
That will deliver a resilient multi-orbit SATCOM capability optimised for ADF operations across the Indo-Pacific.
Air Vice Marshal Martin Nussio, Head Air Defence and Space Systems, told the Joint Capabilities Group Space and Cyber Industry Forum on 10 July that a Request for Tender (RFT) would be released next month with a nominal response time of approximately three months.
“The RFT will be seeking acquisition of the UHF Geostationary SATCOM capability, including delivery of spacecraft, launch, autocorrection, and introduction to service,” he said.
That must interoperate with existing Defence services and be controllable by Defence SATCOM operations, he said.
The RFT will also seek the provision of support services required to operate and sustain the capability including spacecraft operations, telemetry, tracking, and command, payload control, and downgrade sustainment under an availability-based service model.
This is to be acquired under the SPA 9102 (Strategic Partnership Agreement 9102), formerly Joint Project 9102 which was launched in 2017, cancelled in 2024 and relaunched as SPA9102 last year.
JP9102 envisaged an unspecified number but at least two satellites in geostationary orbit, delivering wideband communications for the ADF across the Indo-Pacific.
This would have been an exquisite capability but expensive – an estimated $7 billion - and increasingly vulnerable to adversary attack.
The ADF currently relies on hosted payloads on commercial satellites, the elderly Optus C-1 and Intelsat IS-22, plus the US Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) constellation.
SPA9102 is still expensive. The 2026 Integrated Investment Program (IIP) cites a total planned investment of $5.2-7.2 billion in satellite communications over the next decade.
AVM Nussio told the forum Defence was very focused on schedule and cost “to ensure we do not overcapitalise on this UHF capability.”
“…we want it delivered quickly and we are aiming for the lower end of the cost spectrum,” he said.
“As such, it is expected that the RFT will seek the capability of a high level of system design maturity, consistent with Government's direction on commercial off-the-shelf and military off-the-shore, and a shorter lifetime than more traditional geo capabilities, that is something in the order of about 10 years.”
Director General Space and Cyber Capability Development, Brigadier Hamish Ashman, said the new project direction represented a generational shift in how Defence would acquire, deliver and evolve SATCOM capability.
“Rather than pursuing a phased series of discrete acquisition projects, Defence has adopted a continuous capability development and delivery model to avoid over-capitalisation, enable faster capability insertion, achieve better alignment with operational need and give us the flexibility to be able to respond to changes in technology, to threat and to the industry writ large,” he stated.
“And of course we remain mindful of supporting greater participation across the Australian industry where possible.”
Head Capability Development, Major General Richard Vagg said 9102 was fundamental for Defence.
“It's going to enable us to shoot, move, communicate, provides our timing, provides our location, and it links in all our intelligence feeds,” he indicated.
“It's fundamental for how we will fight today and it's going to be fundamental for how we fight into the future. It is clearly a very important project and capability for the ADF.”