Governments and their militaries are experimenting more and moving faster to stay ahead of adversaries and rapidly shifting geopolitical changes.

For example, the U.S. defense agencies, such as the Defense Innovation Unit, Air Force Research Laboratory, and the United States Space Force, are accelerating the testing and procurement of advanced technology that gives warfighters an edge.

At Intelsat, we believe in collaborations and that satellite connectivity can no longer function on networks operating on bespoke hardware or standards — only integrated systems can keep up with the rapid pace of change.

Interoperability can provide seamless transitions between the multiple layers of connectivity, networks, and terminals and is the future of meeting demand needs.

Intelsat and our partners are building a unified network to seamlessly extend global telecoms and cloud infrastructure capabilities that enable easy-to-deploy managed services across satellite and ground technologies, embracing various open standards and architectures.

We are moving to all-domain resilient communications that are multi-layer, multi-orbit, and multi-band, using RF and 5G, for example, to create combined/blended, surge-capable bandwidth multi-layer, multi-orbit, and multi-band, using RF and 5G, for example, to create combined/blended, surge-capable bandwidth with no single point of failure, better performance, and lower cost per Megabyte.

As the importance of space- based communications for military applications continues to grow, it is vital to implement security measures to counter threats to critical space infrastructure from adversaries, space debris, solar storms, and weather events.

In the coming decades, multi-layer satellite-based satellite communications systems will continuously adapt to enhance military communications for mission success.

We believe we can achieve this through our next-generation unified network, which is a step-change transformation in the delivery of satellite connectivity.

Author Dave Micha is the President of Intelsat General Communications.