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On June 8, 2026, the U.S. Space Force operationally accepted the Meadowlands — a satellite jammer built by L3Harris that is more compact, more mobile, and easier to deploy than any previous system — and announced that it wants to build five more distributed electronic warfare tactical centers inside and outside the United States to ensure no allied satellite is left uncovered.
What the Meadowlands is and why it matters now
The Meadowlands is the most modern version of the Counter Communications System (CCS), the American satellite communications jamming system. The fundamental difference is that the Meadowlands is significantly more compact and mobile than the CCS, meaning it can be transported and installed much more quickly — and in locations the previous system could never reach.
Developed by L3Harris, the system has the capability to be presented to combatant commands around the world. In practice, this means a regional command can request that the Meadowlands be deployed in its area of operation to protect satellite communications from interference or adversary jamming — or to actively jam enemy satellites.
Satellite jamming works by transmitting signals that interfere with the frequencies used by communication, intelligence, or navigation satellites. In the context of space competition with China and Russia — both with documented capabilities to attack American satellites — control of orbital frequencies has become as strategic as airspace dominance was in the 20th century.
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The five new tactical centers: why the Space Force wants to decentralize electronic warfare
Today there is only one operational Space Electromagnetic Warfare Tactical Operations Center (SEWTOC), located at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, and operated by Mission Delta 3. The Space Force wants to expand to at least six units — a decentralized network of tactical centers in the United States and in strategic allies.
The urgent need became explicit during the Epic Fury exercise, conducted in May 2026, when the Space Force simulated attacks on its infrastructure. The exercise revealed that reliance on a single center creates an unacceptable point of failure — especially after recent Iranian attacks against American space infrastructure.
Each new SEWTOC would utilize systems like the Remote Modular Terminal (made by Northstrat with CACI) and the Bounty Hunter, a ground platform that protects allied satellite communication links. The five new centers will be positioned according to the Air Force Strategic Basing Process, considering where jamming threats are most critical — and where allies need permanent coverage.
I wonder what the strategic space map will look like in five years when the SEWTOC network is operational and each combatant command has its own dedicated satellite electronic warfare unit.
The China and Russia race that forced this decision
Space is no longer a neutral domain. China had over 1,060 operational satellites by mid-2025, hundreds of them dedicated to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance — and the country is actively developing satellite jamming and attack systems (ASAT). Russia demonstrated ASAT capability with the satellite-destroying test in 2021, which generated debris that still threatens the ISS today.
In this context, the Space Force identified electronic warfare in space as the critical layer that can determine the outcome of future conflicts before the first shot is fired. If an adversary can blind an enemy’s communication and navigation satellites, it simultaneously disables the command chain, logistics, and precision-guided weapon systems.
The Meadowlands and the SEWTOC network are the American response: instead of concentrating jamming capability in a single vulnerable point, distribute it globally — making it impossible for any adversary to neutralize American space electronic warfare with a single surgical strike.
What this means for allies — including Brazil
The SEWTOC network does not serve only the United States. The Bounty Hunter protects allies’ satellite links, meaning partner countries of the Space Force can have electronic warfare coverage without needing to develop their own systems. For NATO, this represents collective protection in the space domain that goes far beyond traditional missile defense systems.
For Brazil — which operates the SGDC-1 defense satellite and is in the process of developing its own military space capability — the American advancement in satellite electronic warfare represents both a technological reference and a parameter for how major conflicts of the 21st century will be fought. The battle for orbital electromagnetic space has already begun, and the Meadowlands is just the next step in a race with no visible finish line.
The very name Meadowlands says something about the philosophy behind the system: the idea of something that grows organically across the terrain, distributed and diffuse, rather than centralized in a single point of force. It is the architecture of resilience, not concentration. The Space Force has learned from decades of military doctrine that unique and concentrated systems are vulnerable — and that the war of the future, whether conventional or in new domains like cyber and space, will target exactly the unique points of failure of the adversary. Distributing the SEWTOCs around the world is the practical application of this lesson in the orbital electromagnetic domain. For U.S. allies — and for any country that relies on Western communication satellites for defense — the network of tactical centers is as important as formal mutual defense agreements. A satellite jammer that can be transported and deployed in any combatant command in the world means that electromagnetic spectrum protection can reach wherever necessary, not just where there is a permanent American base.
If the 21st-century war begins with who blinds the adversary’s orbital eye, is Brazil prepared to protect what is orbiting up there that belongs to it?
