ThinKom and Space Force demonstrate containerized GECKO SATCOM system

ThinKom Solutions Inc. and Systems Delta 88 carried out a live demonstration of the GECKO system at the company’s integration facilities on November 4, 2026, satnews.com reported.

satnews.com said the announcement framed the exercise as a proof of coherent beamforming, multi-orbit tracking, and rapid setup from a mobile shelter. Coherent beamforming combines signals from multiple antennas so they reinforce each other. The announcement covered those capabilities during the live exercise held at ThinKom’s integration facilities on November 4, 2026.

satnews.com reported that Systems Delta 88 serves as an operational unit within the U.S. Space Force‘s Space Systems Command. The unit teamed with ThinKom Solutions Inc. for the live exercise at the integration facilities. The exercise confirmed coherent digital beamforming, simultaneous tracking across multiple orbits, and quick setup from a mobile containerized shelter.

satnews.com said the acronym GECKO expands to Ground Entry Combined K/Ka-band Operation, a title that identifies the system shown at the integration facilities. The system was built to replace large-aperture parabolic dishes that are exposed. The design swaps a containerized shelter for big, fixed dishes that face attack or environmental loss. K/Ka-band refers to the K-band and Ka-band radio frequency ranges.

satnews.com said the platform rests on a standard 20-foot ISO shipping container, which holds the SATCOM ground gear and lets the system move to forward sites without permanent infrastructure. It provides a discreet ground entry point able to work in forward, contested locations without permanent infrastructure. Running without permanent infrastructure fits contested forward locations, and the design uses geographic site diversity to cut localized atmospheric attenuation by spreading signal risk so weather at one site does not harm the link. Site diversity lets operators spread signal risk so weather at one site does not degrade the link.

satnews.com said operators can split uplink and downlink requirements across multiple distributed systems to dodge weather-related signal loss and give tactical forces resilient, phase-continuous links across orbital constellations. Dividing uplink and downlink across distributed systems lets forces avoid weather-related signal degradation while keeping continuous links as satellites move across orbits. Uplink sends signals to a satellite, and downlink receives signals from it.

satnews.com said the system blends ThinKom’s low-profile Variable Inclination Continuous Transverse Stub phased-array modules with a sophisticated digital Beam Forming Device. A phased array is an antenna system that steers beams electronically rather than physically moving the dish. ThinKom provides the low-profile VICTS hardware while the advanced digital BFD handles beam creation and steering.

satnews.com said the tested setup uses three K-band receive arrays covering 17.7 to 21.2 GHz plus one Ka-band transmit array covering 27.5 to 31.0 GHz. K-band and Ka-band are radio frequency ranges used for satellite communications. In the demonstration, the system combined three receive antennas coherently, lifting the signal-to-noise ratio to 2.5 times what a single array delivers.

satnews.com said combining three antennas coherently lifted the signal-to-noise ratio to 2.5 times a single array before the BFD divided them into independent beams. The Beam Forming Device turned the antennas into three independent beams to track one medium Earth orbit satellite alongside two discrete geostationary Earth orbit platforms. A medium Earth orbit satellite operates at a middle orbital altitude, while a geostationary Earth orbit platform remains fixed over one point on Earth.

satnews.com said the three independent beams followed one MEO satellite at the same time as two GEO platforms, proving simultaneous multi-orbit lock. GECKO emerged from a Small Business Innovation Research program with the Air Force Research Laboratory and SpaceWERX under SYD 88/S9.

satnews.com said the SBIR effort brought in the Air Force Research Laboratory and SpaceWERX under the SYD 88/S9 agreement. The demonstration marks a key operational milestone for the Space Force’s Global Backup Gateway initiative. GoBaG is short for Global Backup Gateway, and the demo is a key operational milestone within that initiative.

satnews.com said Bill Milroy, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder at ThinKom, called the SSC partnership a chance to deliver secure, reliable communications where they are needed most. He also said the goal is to give warfighters quickly deployable, concealed communications that stay connected in dangerous and contested environments. Warfighters are military personnel engaged in combat operations. SSC refers to Space Systems Command.