The Air Force on Thursday awarded more than $110 million to Raytheon, L-3 Communication, and ViaSat Inc. to demonstrate the ability to perform anti-jamming for tactical use of the Wideband Global Satellite Communications constellation. The contracts from the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center—$39 million to Raytheon, $38 million to L-3, and $33 million to ViaSat—call on the companies to demonstrate the anti-jam capability by Sept. 30, 2020, according to a Defense Department announcement. (See also: Never Assume Space is Safe, Hyten Cautions.)
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.