The US Space Force has awarded L3Harris Technologies a $125 million multi-year contract to upgrade the latest version of its Counter Communications System (CCS).
The L3Harris co-developed CCS, first introduced in 2004, is a mobile space electronic warfare system that denies the communications of orbiting satellites, enabling US warfighters to jam adversary transmissions during a conflict.
Satellite Communications Jamming
“Successful space operations depend on dominating the electromagnetic spectrum,” president of Space and Airborne Systems at L3Harris Ed Zoiss said. “Denying our enemies the ability to use their space assets protects US warfighter operations.”
The system targets “communications satellites operating in geostationary orbit” and “likely” blocks C-, Ku- and X-band frequencies, C4ISRNET wrote, citing Secure World Foundation’s 2020 “Global Counterspace Capabilities” report.
The Upgrade
The CCS’s Block 10.2 version, which received initial operating capability in March last year, provides a “significantly expanded capability in terms of what kind of missions it can run” over the original system, general manager of L3Harris’ space control division Praveen Kurian told the outlet.
The Block 10.2 upgrade, dubbed the Meadowlands project, will further enhance the system’s capability and reduce its size. Under the project, sixteen Block 10.2 CCS, operating at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, Vandenburg Space Force Base, California, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, and multiple international locations, will be upgraded.
