
The Air Force plans to spend $121 million over the next three fiscal years on “Pathfinders” to identify opportunities for more affordable commercial satellite communication (COMSATCOM) business arrangements, according to budget documents.The Air Force requested $30 million in fiscal year 2017 for Pathfinder 3. It plans to execute Pathfinder 3 by purchasing pre-launch commercial Ku-band transponder capability to expand pooled bandwidth concept over the Mediterranean Sea. The Air Force also plans to fund a study to prove that airborne intelligence,…