Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Space Force for the rapid prototyping phase of the Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) program to develop a modernized strategic communications space segment with enhanced resilience and cybersecurity capabilities. During the rapid prototyping phase, the company will deliver the preliminary design for ESS’ space segment and a ground-based demonstration.
The ESS program will seamlessly interoperate with, and eventually replace, the Space Force’s existing Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system to provide enduring and secure satellite communications to strategic users. As a key component of the disaggregated architecture supporting legacy AEHF capabilities, the ESS program replaces AEHF’s mid-latitude system capability, extending its survivable communications capability to the North Polar Region.
Cyrus Dhalla, Vice President, Communications Systems at Northrop Grumman, stated that Northrop Grumman looks forward to building on more than 40 years of successfully delivering protected satellite communications solutions to their customers. ESS is critical to extending their nation’s secure satellite communications infrastructure, as it will provide strategic users with assured, uninterruptable connectivity without fear of discovery anywhere on the globe.
As a prime contractor on the ESS program, Northrop Grumman will leverage decades of proven expertise in delivering protected MILSATCOM payloads for programs including Milstar, AEHF, Enhanced Polar System (EPS), and Enhanced Polar System Recapitalization (EPS-R).
