S.Amdt. 6275

SA 6275, submitted by Ms. Alsobrooks, aims to add a section to bill S. 4784 regarding the modernization of resilient satellite communications gateway architecture.

The purpose of this amendment is to require the Secretary of the Army, through the Combat Capabilities Development Command C5ISR Center, to develop and transition a resilient, virtualized satellite communications gateway capability to operational use.

Specifically, the amendment requires the Secretary to:

• Demonstrate cloud-hosted gateway operations that can restore service to deployed forces within hours if a fixed gateway is lost or degraded.
• Develop a government-owned gateway appliance for environments where commercial cloud connectivity is unavailable, such as contested, classified, or disconnected areas.
• Demonstrate the use of live operational traffic at a regional hub node with seamless handover between legacy infrastructure and the virtualized capability.
• Ensure the new capability works alongside existing equipment without needing a wholesale replacement.
• Develop a deployable satellite communications teleport solution using digital intermediate frequency and cloud-hosted services to replace large-aperture antennas with multiple smaller antennas (five meters or less in diameter) that can be quickly deployed and restored.

The amendment sets a milestone to achieve a demonstrated operational capability carrying live Department of Defense traffic by September 30, 2027.

Additionally, the Secretary of the Army must submit a report to congressional defense committees within 180 days of the Act's enactment detailing the plan, milestones, transition partners, and required resources. Funding for this program will come from amounts authorized for the Network C3I Advanced Technology Program.