European agencies explore joint development of secure SATCOM
European Defence Agency and European Space Agency to cooperate on next-gen SATCOM systems.
The European Defence Agency (EDA) and European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a memorandum of intent to explore ‘all relevant technology and capability opportunities for the gradual evolution and development of Next-Generation Secure Satellite Communication (NGSSC) systems’.
According to a 25 February statement from the EDA, the plan is to coordinate the activities of both organisations with the aim of supporting ongoing ESA system studies on NGSSC solutions. These aim to identify systems architectures responding to a wide set of user requirements for secure communications.
The EDA will be invited to take part in the ESA study process to provide expertise, information, data and a channel to potential stakeholders in its user communities.
Once the study results are available in the course of 2021, the ESA and EDA will explore further coordinated steps related to the evolution and preparation of NGSSC systems.
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