Telesat adds military Ka-band to Telesat Lightspeed to meet strong global demand for defence and sovereignty requirements
Press Release + Noah Note
OTTAWA, CANADA – March 17, 2026 – Telesat (Nasdaq and TSX: TSAT), one of the world’s largest and most innovative satellite operators, today announced it is adding 500 MHz of military Ka-band (Mil-Ka) spectrum to the initial 156 satellites in the Telesat Lightspeed constellation to meet the fast-growing global requirements of allied defence users. Mil-Ka is immediately adjacent to the commercial Ka-band spectrum used by Telesat Lightspeed, which allows the change to be made without adversely impacting schedule and with only a modest impact on program cost. The 500 MHz of Mil-Ka will replace the same amount of commercial Ka-band spectrum on the network’s user link, with the gateway link being unaffected by the spectrum change.
Governments have long relied on geostationary (GEO) Mil‑Ka systems to meet their most mission critical satellite communications requirements. More recently, and as a result of evolving operational requirements, advances in technology, and a significant increase in defence spending by NATO members and other allied governments, military planners are advancing satellite communications programs that leverage the advantages of distributed, resilient, high throughput, low‑latency LEO networks. Telesat Lightspeed was designed from inception to meet the security and resiliency requirements of defence organizations, and the addition of interoperable Mil-Ka connectivity further enhances its ability to support rapidly expanding defence and sovereignty requirements.
“We’re seeing very significant global demand for a Mil‑Ka LEO satellite capability as governments respond to recent geopolitical developments and recognize the clear operational advantages offered by advanced LEO constellations,” stated Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO. “The addition of Mil-Ka to Telesat Lightspeed will result in a substantial increase to the current global supply of Mil-Ka capacity. Moreover, by integrating it with the already highly advanced Telesat Lightspeed network, the Telesat Mil-Ka capability is expected to have meaningfully superior performance characteristics relative to the Mil-Ka platforms that allied governments have historically relied upon. This is an important development and one that underscores Telesat’s decades-long commitment to support the mission critical requirements of allied defence users.”
Military satcom architectures require interoperability across national networks, enabling coalition partners to integrate capabilities, share mission‑critical connectivity, and maintain assured communications under joint operational command. With persistent global coverage – including over the Arctic – Telesat Lightspeed Mil-Ka services add a powerful, dedicated layer of interoperable capacity through a secure, flexible, and highly robust data transport layer.
The first two Telesat Lightspeed production satellites will be launched in December 2026, followed by a high cadence launch schedule throughout 2027.
Noah Note: THE SPACE NEWS NEVER STOPS! If you've followed our Telesat saga for a while you'll not be surprised by this move. Telesat has been wanting to jump into the defence space more, and creating a dedicated, secure channel for military clients plays an important role in that. I wouldn't be surprised if others like Kepler do similatlr in the future.
It certainly help build the foundation of the future ESCP-P network that Telesat and MDA will be developing. Lightspeed acts as the precursor here in a way, allowing Telesat to build the architecture and foundation of which to build upon. That's assuming we don't see a starlink situation here.
Time for the Lightspeed rundown anyways! Lightspeed is a fully regenerative space-based mesh network that delivers fiber-like latency and multi-gigabit throughput to any point on Earth, including polar regions, while maintaining MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet standards.
Comprising 198 satellites operating in a hybrid mix of polar (~1,000 km) and inclined (~1,325 km) orbital planes, each satellite is equipped with four Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs), creating a compliant Layer 2 mesh network in space. This allows data to route directly between satellites via laser links, bypassing ground gateways until the traffic reaches its final destination or an optimal peering point.
The network delivers robust, carrier-grade performance specifications, including round-trip latency as low as 30-50 ms and single-terminal speeds reaching 7.5 Gbps downlink and 1 Gbps uplink.
Lightspeed will represent a Sovereign, Canadian-made, Canadian-controlled constellation that will now have the dedicated Mil-Ka capacity to support thr CAF both globally and more importantly in the Arctic, zomething that Lightspeed can unique offer to allies.
It is a basic but needed move if Telesat plans to utilize Lightspeed in a militarized role, and I doubt it will be the last we hear of such moves.