Mercury Systems Awarded Production Contract for Signal Processing Technology for U.S. Space Force’s SCAR Program’s BADGER Digital Beaming Platform

In a major milestone for the U.S. Space Force’s Satellite Communication Augmentation Resource (SCAR) program, BlueHalo has awarded Mercury Systems a production contract to provide signal processing technology for the digital beaming platform being developed for SCAR. Mercury will deliver a field-programmable gate array-based common signal acquisition and digital beamforming tool for BlueHalo’s BADGER technology, which is a transportable ground-based communications system that simplifies space operations through re-configurable beamforming tiles.

Jonathan Moneymaker, CEO of BlueHalo and a previous recipient of the Wash100 Award, highlighted the significance of this agreement as BADGER’s first foray into the high-rate manufacturing phase. He emphasized the importance of each milestone achieved in the SCAR program in maintaining the nation’s strategic advantage in space. Moneymaker praised Mercury as a trusted partner whose signal processing hardware plays a crucial role in BADGER’s exceptional performance.

The partnership between Mercury Systems and BlueHalo was established after successful demonstrations of integrated backend mission services for SCAR at the 2024 Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in April. Additionally, BlueHalo secured a $1.4 billion contract from the Space Rapid Capabilities Office to develop satellite operations capability for SCAR in May 2022.