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The United States Space Force has awarded a $2.8 billion contract to Boeing for building secure and resilient communications satellites under its Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications (ESS) program. Work under the Boeing contract is scheduled to be completed by 2033.

Boeing has won the contract against other competitors, including Northrop Grumman, to secure the deal. The contract will fund the design, production, and launch of two initial satellites, with options for the procurement of two additional satellites under the same program. The award follows a multi-year competition in which both Boeing and Northrop Grumman had been developing prototype systems since receiving contracts in 2020.

This announcement comes as the Space Force refines its satellite communications (SATCOM) architecture, pivoting toward a more modular and agile approach designed to meet evolving security needs with reduced risk and faster timelines.

“The U.S. needs a strategic national security architecture that works without fail, with the highest level of protection and capability,” said Kay Sears, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Space, Intelligence and Weapons systems business. “We designed an innovative system to provide guaranteed communication to address an evolving threat environment in space.”

Critical national security asset

The Evolved Strategic SATCOM program is a next-generation effort intended to replace the aging Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) constellation, which has been the backbone of U.S. military secure communications for over a decade. Unlike AEHF, the new ESS satellites will feature significantly enhanced resilience, advanced cyber protection, and built-in capabilities to operate in contested environments, including the ability to survive jamming, cyberattacks, and even kinetic threats.

ESS will serve a vital role in providing survivable, jam-resistant communications for nuclear command and control, national leadership, and strategic military operations. The program is part of a larger $12 billion ESS effort that aims to develop a full constellation of satellites, including special enhancements to support Arctic communications, an increasingly strategic region in global geopolitics.

Shift in SATCOM strategy

Just hours before the ESS award was announced, the Space Force issued a separate statement outlining a significant shift in its broader SATCOM strategy. Most notably, the service revealed it is canceling the Protected Tactical SATCOM–Resilient (PTS-R) program, which had been one of several projects under development to provide jam-resistant communications capabilities.

This cancellation is part of a deliberate move toward what the Space Force is calling a “family of systems” approach, an architectural shift designed to reduce costs, streamline timelines, and minimize procurement risk. The new strategy will initially focus on the rapid delivery of anti-jam capabilities via the ongoing Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW) initiative.

While the Space Force did not provide extensive details on the updated plan, officials stated that baseline capabilities from existing or parallel programs will continue to be developed and integrated. These include:

• Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global (PTS-G): A worldwide version of the anti-jam system.
• Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES): Ground infrastructure to manage PTW communications.
• Enterprise Management and Control (EM&C): A command-and-control layer to integrate and manage SATCOM assets.
• Air Force-Army Anti-Jam Modem (A3M): A multi-service terminal modem for anti-jam satellite communications.

According to service officials, these remaining systems form a foundational layer that will support a more modular and scalable architecture, allowing the Pentagon to deliver key capabilities faster and adapt more easily to emerging threats.

Initial prototypes under the Protected Tactical SATCOM effort are scheduled for launch next year, forming a testbed for the next-generation anti-jam systems that will eventually support global operations.

Implications for the future of military communications

The ESS program and the newly announced strategy reflect a broader trend within the Department of Defense: a push toward greater resiliency, agility, and survivability in space-based systems. As near-peer competitors such as China and Russia continue to develop sophisticated anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities, including directed energy weapons, electronic warfare, and co-orbital threats, the U.S. is accelerating efforts to harden its satellite infrastructure.

The Pentagon has increasingly emphasized that space is no longer a benign environment and that future conflicts could extend to, and possibly begin in, the space domain. Reliable, secure communications will be at the core of U.S. deterrence and response capabilities, particularly in scenarios involving nuclear command and control.

The shift away from legacy, monolithic SATCOM programs like PTS-R to more modular, “plug-and-play” systems also reflects a growing appreciation for commercial innovation cycles. By breaking down large programs into manageable components that can be developed and deployed more rapidly, the Space Force aims to keep pace with technological change and avoid the pitfalls of decades-long acquisitions that often become outdated before deployment.

Boeing’s win in the ESS program puts the company at the center of this new architecture, with the potential for follow-on contracts that could bring the total ESS procurement to well over $12 billion. For now, the award represents not just a victory for Boeing, but a major commitment by the Space Force to modernize its most strategic and sensitive satellite communications capabilities, on a timeline that matches the urgency of today’s geopolitical realities.