The US Space Force (USSF), Space Systems Command (SSC), has a requirement for the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW) Joint Hub Variant.

The Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) is the ground processing system designed to provide anti-jam (AJ) wideband Satellite Communications (SATCOM) capability utilizing the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW). PTES initial use is intended for the tactical warfighter using Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites, aka PTW over WGS (PTWoW). Later phases of the program will support other suitable satellites described in Section II that can be a transponder for the PTW. PTES consists of components for the Joint Hub (JH), Mission Management System (MMS), Key Management System (KMS), Key Loading and Initialization Facility (KLIF), and Network Management System (NMS). A PTES JH functions in conjunction with user terminals to support PTW operations on its Forward Link (FL) and Return Link (RL).

• The PTW Joint Hub Variant (JHV) will serve as a common-baseline Joint Hub for multiple PTW programs, e.g., PTES (both PTWoW and PTW-over-Commercial (PTWoC) and Protected Tactical Satellite – Global (PTS-G). Each PTW program will also require an updated Mission Management System, which will be an effort captured separately from the Joint Hub Variant development described in this RFI.
• PTW programs provide worldwide, beyond line-of-sight (BLOS), Anti-Jam (AJ), Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) communications service to tactical warfighters in both benign and contested environments, enabled by the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW) defined in the PTW Interface Control Document (ICD).
• JHVs will be located at U.S. Department of War (DoW) Teleports and will interface with mPOWER Gateway terminals to provide Commercial Ka-band radio frequency (RF) connectivity to user terminals via the mPOWER Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) SATCOM constellation.
• When providing connectivity via transponded Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites, JHVs will interface with Enterprise gateway terminals to provide radio frequency (RF) connectivity to user terminals located at DoW, Commercial, or International Teleports. The JHV will be configured to operate over one type of constellation at any given time. JHV Technical Requirements Document (TRD) requirements are split into four categories; each requirement category enables the JHV to operate over specific constellations. The JHV may make use of a mix of requirement categories depending on how the JHV is configured.
• HUBA: Requirements with this designation always apply to the JHV regardless of what configuration it is in.
• HUBG: Requirements with this designation apply to the JHV only when it is configured to operate over commercial GEO constellations.
• HUBM: Requirements with this designation apply to the JHV only when it is configured to operate over commercial MEO
• HUBW: Requirements with this designation apply to the JHV only when it is configured to operate over WGS constellations or PTS-G constellations.