Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) has been awarded a contract from Boeing to develop mission management, system control, networking and ground hub capabilities in support of an anti-jam satellite communications capability for the U.S. Air Force’s Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) program.

The PTES program will provide tactical warfighters with a joint ground platform designed to deliver protected communications services through the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite constellation, commercial satellites and in the future, the DoD’s Protected Tactical Satellites running the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW). Hughes will design PTES sub-systems to support these tactical capabilities in the first phase of Protected Anti-Jam Tactical Satcom (PATS).

The PTES technology developments will use an Agile Project Management approach required under the PTES contract. The contract work was initiated in late 2018 and is expected to run through 2025.

Dr. Rajeev Gopal, VP and Hughes program manager for PTES, said the company is developing a state-of-the-art, containerized software design for PTES data, control and management functions with scalable architecture to enable the use of advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.

Rick Lober, VP and GM of Hughes Defense and Intelligence Systems Division (DISD, reported that the company looks forward to working with Boeing and the USAF in applying the firm's more than four decades of experience in developing SATCOM networks and management systems for commercial and government enterprise applications. Hughes is committed to building and supporting secure global communications networks, and our team is dedicated to helping provide the DoD a highly resilient, tactical network that will enable mission success in contested environments.