In today’s military applications supported by satellite communications, security, information assurance and link efficiency are inextricably linked. Military operations are becoming more complex as conflict areas grow more dispersed on a global scale, with a growing need to support a diversity of on-the-move, on-the-pause and fixed platforms. At the same time, security threats are becoming more apparent, raising concerns that nations, terrorist groups, criminals and individual hackers can jam, interrupt and endanger military operations.

In satellite communications, most individual nations cannot generate significant capabilities by themselves. Instead, European nations can generate increased capabilities through cooperation and collaboration. Several pooling and sharing initiatives have already been kicked off in the European defence context to face challenges related to the fragmentation of supply and demand, the assured secure access to satellite communications and the changing environment.

The complexity of dispersed military operations translates into requirements to have access to complex global satellite communication networks with a mix of different satellite constellations, networks and services to support a wide variety of military applications. Security and resilience are key features of today’s military satellite networks and are paired with efficiency to cope with the increased data demand of bandwidth hungry services such as ISR and situational awareness, the growing use of on-the-move applications, and the need for seamless end-user experience during operations. However, military satellite communication networks with these wide-ranging requirements face an increased risk of ill-intentioned acts and cyber-attacks such as jamming, signal spoofing and interception attempts.

A key element to tackle this security challenge is the implementation of a protected, resilient and secure satellite communication waveform for fully transparent, processed transparent and the new generation processed interactive transponders, which at the same time responds to the operational requirements and allows for interoperability during joint operations with allies.

The great majority of Member States do not have independent access to secure satellite communication waveforms, although they also engage in military operations in a national or multinational (EU, NATO, UN peacekeeping, etc.) context. The investment for developing a protected waveform cannot be carried out by a single nation alone and requires a multinational development approach in a European context with the aim to establish a European Protected Waveform (EPW).