Outer space

This is what the Space Force will use to jam enemy satellites

Shrouded in secrecy, the Counter Communications System is the tool the U.S. Space Force will use to jam adversaries’ communications in a conflict.

“It’s a deployable system basically for counter communications. Think of it as a platform that various custom missions run on,” said Praveen Kurian, general manager of L3Harris’ space control division. “It doesn’t permanently damage [targets], right? You’re talking about reversibly denying communications, and then when you shut down your system, you’re back to being able to operate.”

America’s newest armed service got an updated version of the system — Block 10.2 — in March, but a leaner, more capable generation is already in the works.

When CCS Block 10.2 achieved initial operating capability March 9, the Space Force hailed the system as its first offensive weapon system; the first generation of the system was delivered to the military in 2004. The former Harris Corporation was a contributor to that system, said Kurian, and now L3Harris has been the primary contractor to the two major upgrades to the system since then — first, Block 10.1 and now Block 10.2.