The Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) initiative comes at a time when GPS satellites, which the U.S. military, private sector and the average citizen depend on, are at risk of being jammed.

The last thing agencies can afford during natural disasters is for communications to go down, but many agencies have yet to adequately diversify their networks.

It will replace an existing contract that provides connectivity between Navy and Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships and Navy designated points of presence.