The Space Force is interested in two new anti-satellite weapons: the “Meadowlands” and the “Remote Monitor Terminal,” both of which are built to jam enemy satellite communications.
The sixth and newest branch of the United States military has been developing new systems to jam adversarial satellites. The United States Space Force could soon field “two new weapons,” Bloomberg reported last week. Each was developed to “jam” intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) satellites operated by Russia and China.
America and China Are Preparing for Satellite Warfare
The United States already operates a “Counter Communications System,” a transportable (but not exactly “mobile”) electronic warfare system that can be employed to temporarily jam and disrupt satellite communications. The CCS Block 10.2 ground-based system achieved Initial Operating Capability in March 2020. It was designed to deny an adversary access to a space-based communications platform without permanently disabling its infrastructure.
The new systems, dubbed “Meadowlands” and “Remote Modular Terminal,” will further bolster the jamming capabilities. Unlike the bulky CCS, these two platforms can be more easily “dispersed worldwide,” and potentially even operated remotely, the Bloomberg report added.
China currently has around 1,200 satellites in orbit, and the majority of those would be valid military targets in a confrontation, even if they have civilian uses as well. Bloomberg cited the Space Force’s unclassified “Space Threat Fact Sheet,” which was last updated in September; the service notes that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) operates more than 510 ISR satellites, equipped with “optical, multispectral, radar and radio frequency sensors.”
Blinding the satellites in the event of war would be crucial to protecting key US assets, notably carrier strike groups, from the eyes in the sky.
“Intelligence suggests the PLA likely sees counter-space operations as a means to deter and counter U.S. military intervention in a regional conflict,” Gen. Chance Saltzman, commander of the US Space Force, said during the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission in April.
Saltzman acknowledged that China had also developed radio frequency jammers that could block US satellites.
About the L3Harris “Meadowlands”
Aerospace and defense contractor L3Harris delivered its first Meadowlands electronic warfare (EW) unit last spring. The CCS platform, comprising advanced radio frequency equipment designed for plug-and-play integration to facilitate updates and adoption of new technology, was also developed to be rapidly deployable worldwide.
The platform arrived several years behind schedule, however, “a result of technical issues,” Bloomberg noted. However, the radar-like units, which are mounted on wheeled trailers, are now undergoing final testing.
“We’ve had good success with the contractor testing, so we are optimistic that this next phase of more rigorous testing will be successful,” USSF Col. Bryon EC McClain, program executive officer for Space Combat Power, Space Systems Command, explained in June.
About the Northstrat/CACI “Remote Modular Terminal” (RMT)
Progress is also being made with the Remote Modular Terminal (RMT), developed by Virginia-based Northstrat and CACI International. The companies received a Space Force contract in September 2022.
A test of the small form-factor system was carried out in the spring of 2024 “at two geographically separated locations and controlled from a third,” the Space Force explained. The test, supervised by Space Delta 12’s 4th Test and Evaluation Squadron, emphasized the RMT’s “operational flexibility.”
The US Space Force had initially planned to field 11 RMTs and is now committed to buying as many as 32 Meadowlands and two dozen RMTs. Past funding was approved for as many as 160, with the service suggesting that 200 or more would be required to effectively block China’s constellation of satellites. The CCS platforms are stated to be more cost-effective than other space-based jammers.
America’s “Bounty Hunter” Satellite Monitor Is Also Coming Online
The US Space Force has recently begun establishing an EW tactical operations center to employ the electromagnetic spectrum to sense, protect, and communicate, and, if necessary, disrupt adversary capabilities. It will utilize a surveillance system dubbed “Bounty Hunter” that can also monitor and determine if an American satellite is being targeted, while tracking the location of potential enemy satellites in orbit.
According to the US Space Force, Bounty Hunter was deployed with the US Indo-Pacific Command (PACOM) in 2018, expanding “a near-global ability to detect, characterize, geolocate, and report sources of EMI on the U.S. military and commercial satellites in direct support of combatant commanders.”
A year later, Bounty Hunter was delivered to US Central Command (CENTCOM) in support of Operation Silent Sentry, which supports satellite communications and multiple combatant commands.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image: Shutterstock / Dima Zel.
