In the age of strategic competition, the United States and its international partners face rapidly evolving threats as they pivot toward potential engagement with near-peer adversaries.
Significant technological developments, particularly in cyber warfare, electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO), and precision fires, are fast becoming more accessible to opponents, thereby threatening to change the delicate landscape of global security and power dynamics.
According to Comtech’s Chief Strategy Officer and President of the Company’s Satellite Network Technologies business, Daniel Gizinski, today’s threat landscape looks wildly different from five to 10 years ago.
“There’s been a dramatic adjustment, both in terms of the capabilities and how and where they’re being deployed,” he explained.
“We’ve seen some pretty significant developments as a result of innovations and change, and over the last several years, we’ve had the opportunity to look at very different levels of what’s possible and what can be done. And from a product development and program fielding perspective, this change has put a lot of emphasis on how we design and develop products that can last over a long-term period in the field,” he continued to describe.
According to Daniel, the pivot towards strategic competition presents an “enormous challenge” to the US Department of Defense (DoD) and its international partners as they look to build and design products capable of being fielded for the next 10 to 25 years.
To support the warfighter both today and in the future, Comtech continues to focus on upgrading legacy systems as well as the development of emerging, next-generation technologies.
“The net result of this change has been a shift away from the development of bigger, more expensive, more hardened systems including advanced wideband waveforms and satellites capable of tolerating levels of spectral interference towards enormous investment in building out resilience in connectivity,” Daniel explained.
“Resilience on the battlefield lies in the diversity of multiple networks capable of providing the necessary levels of connectivity to route traffic via the best available network. Ultimately, the goal isn’t necessarily to keep a network running at all costs—it’s to keep data getting to the right place at all costs. And there are sometimes more efficient ways to do that, and you must bake in that headroom and that ability to adapt via software updates to maintain pace with a rapidly changing threat,” he added.
Uniquely Positioned
Consequently, Comtech continues to focus efforts on a series of technology areas of interest to support DoD and international partners.
Focus areas include Assured Communications and EMSO, with Daniel explaining how the company remains “hyper-focused” on the transition away from heavily stove-piped satellite systems towards digital satellite ground infrastructure and other capabilities that allow the warfighter to rapidly reconstruct networks based on the requirements of any given day.
Similar sentiments were shared by Comtech’s Executive Vice President of Business Development and Sales, Roly Rigual, who explained how Assured Communications can support operations against near-peer adversaries today and in the future.
“It’s been a long time since the major powers have had to ‘fight to get to the fight’ so assured and protected communications are more important today than ever,” Roly explained, highlighting the proliferation of multi-orbit (LEO, MEO, and GEO) constellations.
“It’s just starting, but there’s a lot of technology that still needs to be developed and deployed alongside the relevant standards supported by the ground infrastructure. I believe Comtech is in a very good position to help the customer solve these challenges,” he said.
In terms of EMSO, Comtech has focused on developing new understandings and techniques over the past decade, particularly relating to improved coordination of electronic attacks and electronic support through communications.
Dual Use Expertise
As it continues to support DoD and international partners, Comtech benefits from expertise in both commercial and defense markets.
“As a company that’s got its roots in dual-use technology development, we design a lot of cutting-edge commercial technologies with a unique set of abilities and capabilities to develop defense articles,” Daniel explained.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say one is universally ahead of the other, but having a foot in both camps allows us to take clever commercial innovations and bring them to the defense market and vice versa.”
Daniel highlighted satellite and troposcatter communication solutions as two of the most relevant dual-use capabilities that, when stitched together, can offer DoD and international partners significant value across a battlespace.
Specific Comtech successes include the US Army’s Enterprise Digital Intermediate Frequency Modem (EDIM) program, which has its roots in commercially developed technology. Awarded a contract in October 2023, Comtech is on track to deliver an initial tranche of systems to the army in the coming months.
Elsewhere, Comtech continues to support a resurgence in Troposcatter technologies across the US Army, Marine Corps, and international partners.
“Troposcatter was viewed as legacy technology-heavy, expensive, and hard to deploy. But it’s been fun to see the look of realization and appreciation that sets in with certain customers when they realize the art of the possible with modern solutions,” Daniel said.
Furthermore, Comtech is in the process of rolling out a next-generation of satellite modems capable of supporting exquisite platforms such as combat air aircraft.
“We recently received an award to bring some of the most advanced military jets into the overall network, so this is a pretty exciting growth opportunity and part of a new modem family we’re in the process of releasing over the next six or so months,” Daniel said.
Finally, Comtech remains dedicated to ensuring customers benefit from ‘Zero Trust Architecture’ as they move away from traditional network-centric infrastructures towards more data-centric models.
“One of the biggest challenges we see is bridging legacy and new networks together. I think everyone likes to imagine that we will flip a light switch and have zero trust architecture rolled out next year, but it’s going to be a 10-plus year roll-out process,” he concluded.
As the contemporary operating environment continues to change, so too must connectivity products and solutions over the long term to ensure the warfighter benefits from truly resilient communications.
Only increasing levels of investment and diverse inventories of products and concepts of operation will support those who need it most as they continue to observe uplifts in asymmetric warfare around the world.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information in this blog post contains statements that are forward-looking in nature and involve certain significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results and performance could differ materially from such forward-looking information. The Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings identify many such risks and uncertainties. Any forward-looking information in this blog post is qualified in its entirety by the risks and uncertainties described in such Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
