Multibillion-dollar 'internet in the sky' could help ease bandwidth crunch.

The Pentagon's bold plan to deploy a constellation of satellites that beam data via lasers is showing signs of progress, but delays and funding cuts also are in the cards, contend industry and military experts.

Dubbed the "Transformational Satellite Communications" system, TSAT is regarded by Defense Department leaders and program advocates as a technological panacea that could help resolve the spectrum crunch by making the military services less dependent on radio communications links.

The Air Force, which oversees the TSAT program, requested $836 million this year to continue research and development work on the laser technology, the satellites and the ground-based network that would process the information.

As envisioned, TSAT would include five geo-stationary spacecraft-tied together by laser communications--that would function as "routers in the sky." The first satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2013.

The Defense Department regards TSAT as the means to provide military forces virtually unlimited capacity to send and receive massive amounts of data, explained Trip Carter, manager of advanced communications programs at the Raytheon Company. "TSAT is intended to take the 'global information grid' worldwide," he said.

Although laser communications systems do not exist today in the Defense Department, program officials are optimistic that the technology will mature over time. NASA already is showing the promise of laser links under the Mars Laser Communication Demonstration that is currently under way.

"We've done some experiments that give us some confidence that we can do this," said Air Force Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold, who recently retired as commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center, in Los Angeles.

He described TSAT as "laser communications in space that work like the Internet [and] ... will empower all users and reduce communications bottlenecks."

Arnold declined to provide cost figures for the program, but agreed that, of all the communications satellite systems now in development, TSAT will be the most expensive. Pentagon budget documents show estimates of $19 billion for six satellites.

Carter, whose company is one of three contractors working on TSAT ground equipment, said he is not worried about the technology failing to perform as advertised. "We'll deploy the [ground] network early on, in advance of the spacecraft" to iron out any problems before the satellites are launched, he said.

"Another problem TSAT is trying to solve is interoperability ... The military services want seamless connections between systems," Carter said. "IP based networks are the only way to achieve interoperability."

Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are competing for the TSAT ground segment contract that is expected to be awarded in October. The winning contractor will be responsible for building a networks operations center, an operations management center and transportable facilities for use in emergencies.

Chuck Corwin, a communications engineer at Raytheon, said that even though laser communications are relatively unproven in military systems, in TSAT, the risk is not technological, but cultural. "It's a matter of having the Defense Department communities cooperating," he said. "All the peering networks that are being developed by different branches of the armed forces will have to agree for this to work."

Another source of risk in the program is security. "The network will be a target, so it needs to be secure," Corwin said.

In the near term, however, a more significant hurdle for TSAT will be Capitol Hill, where program supporters have yet to convince many lawmakers that the technology is more than just a pipedream.

"It's become really contentious between the Air Force and Congress," said John Edwards, a space industry analyst at Forecast International, a business intelligence firm. He projects that the $836 million budget sought for TSAT in fiscal year 2006 will see cuts comparable to last year's reductions. He also predicted the launch of the first satellite likely will slip to 2015 or 2016.

In fiscal year 2005, the system had its $774.8 million budget request reduced by $300 million, to $474.8 million. Lawmakers attributed the cuts to technology risks.

Regardless of what happens with TSAT, the Defense Department will need to figure out an alternative to radio-frequency based communications, Edwards said. "The mounting shortage of bandwidth, is expected to pose a serious problem in the not-so-distant future," he wrote in a Forecast International study. "All current satellite systems use radio frequencies to transmit data, and there is only so much capacity to go around.

"With increased transmission speeds and capacity at such high demand among military, civil, and commercial markets, U.S. operators are all fighting for a bigger piece of the pie," Edwards noted. Until TSAT is up an running, the U.S. military will continue to lean on commercial service providers for additional bandwidth to ensure continuous communications, he added.