Lt. Col William Sanders, the commander of the 4th Space Control Squadron, receives the Counter Communications System Block 10.2 from Lt. Col. Stephen Brogan, combat systems branch materiel leader at the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., on March 12 last year at Peterson AFB, Colo. Once handed over, the B10.2 became the first offensive weapon system assigned to the U.S. Space Force (U.S. Space Force Photo)
By Frank Wolfe |
3 years ago |
05/03/2021

The U.S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles AFB, Calif. has released a request for proposals (RFP) for competitive bids to build 26 Meadowlands Counter Communications Systems (CCS).

Proposals are due by May 19.

On March 9 last year, SMC declared initial operational capability with the 4th Space Control Squadron at Peterson AFB, Colo. for the L3Harris Technologies [LHX] CCS Block 10.2, what SMC termed “the first offensive weapon system in the United States Space Force,” and since then, Space Force has been undertaking the new $247.5 million CCS Block 10.3 Meadowlands effort with L3Harris to deliver the first four units by April 2023. (Defense Daily, Nov. 9, 2020).

First introduced in 2004, CCS is a transportable space electronic warfare system that reversibly jams adversary satellite communications, early warning, and propaganda, per SMC.

Since the 2004 introduction of CCS, SMC and L3Harris have undertaken block upgrades for the system. Meadowlands is so named, as it is to be a departure from the CCS architecture and to reduce significantly the amount of equipment needed to deploy and support CCS.

“There are 16 CCS Block 10.2 fielded systems which currently operate at Peterson Air Force Base, Vandenberg Air Force Base [Calif.], Cape Canaveral Air Force Station [Fla.], and OCONUS [outside of continental United States] locations,” per SMC’s Meadowlands RFP. “The next block upgrade to CCS Block 10.2 is called CCS Meadowlands and is currently in development. The CCS Meadowlands design will be more modular, scalable, and reduces the operational footprint from 14 racks of equipment to 3 to 4 racks of equipment.”

SMC had said last year that Meadowlands would reduce the operational footprint from 14 to two racks of equipment.

The Meadowlands RFP fits previous SMC plans to compete the production of 28 additional CCS Block 10.3 Meadowlands systems by October 1 this year. Space Force requested $60.5 million for Meadowlands in fiscal 2021, and production is to continue through fiscal 2025.

Meadowlands is to provide frequency bands beyond those in earlier CCS versions.