From Ground to Space: Halo’s Role in Transforming U.S. Military Connectivity

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory recently awarded a contract to Cubic Defense to develop Halo, a next-generation software-defined SATCOM antenna system. Under this agreement, through mid-2027, Cubic will work in San Diego to evolve Halo into a field-ready solution. Halo promises to deliver simultaneous, multi-band, multi-orbit connectivity and resilient network paths — enabling warfighters to stay connected across diverse satellite networks without interruption.

This marks a significant shift from many of today’s more rigid satellite communication systems. Below, we explore how Halo differs from current systems, and the strategic implications of this technology.

What is Halo

• Software-defined antenna: Halo can change its operation, including beam patterns and frequency bands, through software, rather than being locked into fixed hardware settings.

• Multi-band, multi-orbit capability: It can transmit and receive at the same time on different frequency bands and connect across multiple satellite orbits, including low, medium, and geostationary Earth orbit.

• Open standards & modularity: Built with an open architecture, Halo can be upgraded and scaled more easily than legacy systems.

• Low SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power): The antenna is compact, lightweight, and energy-efficient, ideal for mobile platforms like aircraft, ground vehicles, and ships.

• Electronic beam steering: Using active electronically scanned arrays, Halo can steer beams electronically without moving parts, increasing agility.

• Resiliency & redundancy: By maintaining multiple active links, Halo ensures communication even if one path fails.

In essence, Halo is a flexible, resilient, and networked SATCOM terminal, designed for the demands of modern battlefields.

Current U.S. Military SATCOM

Many existing U.S. Air Force and DoD satellite communication systems are more limited:

• Single-path links: Traditional terminals usually connect to one satellite in one frequency band at a time.

• Separated military and commercial access: Systems often operate independently, with little integration between military and commercial networks.

• Rigid hardware: Most terminals have fixed capabilities, making upgrades and adaptability slow and costly.

• Vulnerability: Single-path reliance makes them susceptible to jamming, interference, or satellite outages.

• Slow acquisition cycles: Developing and deploying new SATCOM systems can take many years.

• Incremental integration: Efforts are underway to unify military and commercial systems, but many terminals remain isolated and inflexible.

Overall, existing systems are reliable but lack the dynamic, adaptable connectivity that Halo aims to provide.

Key Differences & Advantages of Halo

Halo is more than an improved antenna; it is a central enabler of next-generation, networked SATCOM, designed to maintain secure, uninterrupted communication in dynamic environments.

Additional Context & Strategic Trends

Looking at Halo in a broader context, it’s clear this is not just another antenna project—it’s part of a larger push to rethink how the military connects in space. Programs like Global Lightning show the Air Force’s interest in hybrid SATCOM systems, blending commercial satellite constellations with military ones to create a more flexible and resilient network. Halo-style terminals are central to making that vision a reality.

At the same time, the U.S. Space Force is doubling down on hardened communications with Protected Tactical SATCOM (PTS), emphasizing anti-jam capabilities for tactical users. Meanwhile, the Defense Department is moving away from siloed, monolithic systems and toward fully integrated, hybrid networks, where ground stations, satellites, and terminals communicate as a unified system.

Even the Air Force’s “Network of the Future” initiative reflects this philosophy, aiming to manage all transport layers—satellite, terrestrial, 5G, fiber—through intelligent software like SD-WAN. And Halo isn’t alone in this space: other defense contractors, such as L3Harris, are developing multi-orbit, multi-constellation terminals. The challenge for all these efforts is balancing commercial SATCOM flexibility with the stringent security and robustness required by military operations.

Challenges & Risks

Despite Halo’s exciting promise, the path forward isn’t without hurdles. Coordinating multiple frequencies, orbits, and network paths in real time is complex. Ensuring security, encryption, and cyber protections for hybrid links adds another layer of difficulty.

The traditional pace of defense acquisitions also presents a challenge—delivering a cutting-edge, software-defined system quickly is never easy. Halo must also seamlessly integrate with existing infrastructure and maintain interoperability with a variety of platforms. And, in any contested environment, adversaries could attempt jamming, spoofing, or cyberattacks, making resilience absolutely critical. Finally, careful spectrum management is essential when operating across multiple bands and orbits to avoid conflicts and ensure reliable operation.

What It All Means

At the end of the day, Halo represents a shift in thinking about military SATCOM. It’s no longer enough to have a single, rigid link—future warfighting requires networks that are dynamic, resilient, and adaptable. Halo offers automatic path switching, access to commercial bandwidth when needed, seamless fallback to military networks, and reduced risk of single-point failure.

If it succeeds, Halo could redefine how the U.S. military communicates across air, ground, sea, and space platforms, becoming a central pillar of enterprise SATCOM. For warfighters, that could mean faster, more reliable, and more secure communications anytime, anywhere—a small but critical advantage in the battles of the future.