OMAHA, Neb. - U.S. Strategic Command chief Gen. Kevin Chilton this week said he is confident the military and industry will one day overcome the technical issues that triggered the Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program's termination and field a next-generation communications platform.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates in April proposed killing the often-delayed and perennially over-budget program, and Congress has supported the move in 2010 Pentagon spending legislation.
But Chilton told reporters here Nov. 3 that the concept, as well as the requirements for many of the space-based tools slated for TSAT, are not dead yet.
"There will be a TSAT one day," Chilton said, addressing the Space Foundation-sponsored 2009 Strategic Space Symposium. "There is no doubt in my mind we will get a TSAT."
The technological issues that slowed the program and drove its costs to what Gates determined were unaffordable levels "are things we can overcome," the StratCom boss said.
The military and industry should continue working on things like "routers in space," Chilton said. Once the technology is more mature, "we can then lay in a concrete program where more is known of the technology, the costs."
Work has been under way within the Pentagon since April to figure out how to apply the fruit of the multibillion-dollar TSAT development effort to upgrades of existing satellites, such as the military's Advanced Extremely High Frequency constellation.
The Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is ready to test a few components that soldiers may have in their hands by 2010.
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