Hughes targets sovereign satcom demand with network control software

WASHINGTON — Hughes Network Systems is positioning its defense business to capture growing demand from governments seeking greater control over how satellite communications networks are used, a senior executive said March 25.

The company is marketing software that sits at the edge of communications networks — inside terminals, aircraft and gateways — and manages how data moves across satellite, 5G and terrestrial links.

Patrick Markus, vice president and general manager of Hughes’ defense and government solutions division, said demand is rising for software-defined tools that can orchestrate traffic across multiple satellite orbits and networks.

Sovereign capabilities, in this context, is not owning the satellites, but controlling how they’re used.

That shift reflects a broader change in military communications. Governments have traditionally equated sovereignty with owning satellites, but the rapid expansion of commercial constellations has made that less practical. Instead, militaries are placing more emphasis on controlling routing, security and policy layers that determine how networks operate.

Speaking at the Satellite 2026 conference, Markus said Hughes is investing in network orchestration technology “as a way of capitalizing on the proliferation of satellite constellations, multiple transport solutions, as well as a demand for resiliency.”

“I very much would characterize the defense business as being under a pivot,” he said, pointing to growing interest in autonomous network management and systems that integrate satellite and 5G connectivity.

Hughes provides satellite networking equipment and services that connect users to commercial and government systems. As the Pentagon and allied militaries move toward hybrid, multi-vendor architectures, the company is positioning itself less as a bandwidth provider and more as a supplier of software that determines how that bandwidth is used.

Customers are seeking “global situational awareness of those networks and policy management that drive down all the way to the tactical edge,” Markus said, adding that some countries are already adopting such capabilities, though he did not identify them.

The push aligns with U.S. military efforts to build more resilient communications, he said, by combining commercial and government systems and improving how data is routed across them.

Another area of focus is artificial intelligence. Markus said the company is increasing the use of AI to help manage complex networks, particularly to “facilitate orchestration across multiple orbits at the edge.”

Hughes this week announced an updated version of its HM400 software-defined satellite modem, which uses AI to switch automatically between satellite beams or constellations. The modem is aimed at military aircraft and drones, where maintaining connectivity across multiple networks is critical for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.