Private company
Commercial satellite operator
XTAR, LLC is a US-based company founded in 2001 for the purposes of commercializing the capacity and services on HISDESAT’s governmental satellite systems, which are purpose-built to meet the needs of the Kingdom of Spain. XTAR provides military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) capacity and services in X-, mil-Ka, and UHF-frequency bands. It also provides all-weather, high-resolution.X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging/earth observation services to the US Department of Defense, NATO Allies, and partner nations as well.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
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XTAR, LLC is a US-based company founded in 2001 for the purposes of commercializing the capacity and services on HISDESAT’s governmental satellite systems, which are purpose-built to meet the needs of the Kingdom of Spain. XTAR provides military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) capacity and services in X-, mil-Ka, and UHF-frequency bands. It also provides all-weather, high-resolution.X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging/earth observation services to the US Department of Defense, NATO Allies, and partner nations as well.2
XTAR, LLC was founded in 2001. It was the first commercial satellite operator to provide services in the X-band frequency range of 7.25-8.4 GHz, a band reserved exclusively for government and military users, though it launched the fleet with no government funding. It was the brainchild of a group of leaders at Space Systems/Loral and various Spanish entities such as INSA, Hispasat, and the Spanish Ministry of Defense.
From Wikipedia’s article on XTAR, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
4 GB of circular polarity X-band capacity
72 MHz transponders
Coverage from 105 degrees West Longitude east to 120 degrees East Longitude
Global, fixed and steerable spot beams
Right hand and Left hand circular polarity
On-board switching enabled
Compatible with existing X-band terminals
Non-preemptible service
Encrypted command and control links
The XTAR legacy fleet uses the hosted payload model, an application that is becoming increasingly used by U.S. and other governments. XTAR-EUR hosts a payload and XTAR-LANT is a hosted payload. Both satellites are built on the SSL 1300 modular platform from Space Systems/Loral and designed for 18-plus years of on-orbit operation. The spacecraft attitude maintained to within 0.02° in roll, pitch, and yaw.
With its high-powered 72 MHz transponders and global, fixed and steerable beams, XTAR provides 1.44 GB of secure X-band capacity with coverage from Denver east to Singapore. The system can accommodate massive wideband data requirements and provides overlapping coverage with regional redundancy for increased service and reliability.
The legacy XTAR satellites were designed and built by private financing.
Additional details:
This satellite, at 29 degrees East longitude and originally owned by XTAR, began operations in February 2005. The XTAR-EUR satellite hosts a NATO-configurable payload designed to support an anchor European customer. The coverage area includes Eastern Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia as far east as Singapore. Hisdesat and XTAR announced on July 31, 2020 that they completed a transaction whereby Hisdesat Strategic Services SA purchased the satellite from XTAR, mirroring Hisdesat's ownership of the XTAR-LANT/Spainsat satellite (immediately below), and thus simplifying the ownership arrangement of the two satellites.
XTAR-LANT is a hosted payload on the Spainsat satellite. The satellite, at 30 degrees West longitude, is owned by Hisdesat and was placed into orbit in 2006. The coverage area includes North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and the Atlantic Ocean.
On January 29, 2025, Hisdesat launched the "Next-Generation" replacement of XTAR-EUR. This on-orbit replacement, formally known as and filed with the ITU as "Spainsat-NG1," is commonly also referenced as "EUR-NG" or "NG1," and will arrive on-orbit in Aug/Sep 2025. Its twin, known as "Spainsat-NG2" (or "LANT-NG" or "NG2") is scheduled for launch in summer 2025 and will arrive on orbit to replace XTAR-LANT in Feb/Mar 2026. Together, these two fully software-defined satellites will be the most advanced satellites of their kind over Europe: Features:
6 GHz of X-band, 2 GHz of mil-Ka band, and 9 x 25-kHz wide channels of legacy (non-WCDMA) capacity per satellite
Highly-efficient, DRA phased-array X-band antennas with on-board processing supports rapid geolocation, nulling, and RF muting, with shapeable beams ranging from 2.2-degrees to satellite FOV
6 steerable parabolic, and 1 non-steerable semi-global, mil-Ka antennas per satellite, with RF muting.
Digital channelizers with cross-banding and flexible power allocation between X- and mil-Ka payloads; supports carriers 312.5 kHz to 500 MHz wide (X-band) and up to 1 GHz wide (mil-Ka), so suitable for today's most advanced waveforms
Coverage from 105 degrees West Longitude east to 120 degrees East Longitude
X-band in Right hand and Left hand circular polarity; mil-Ka is Right hand only
NATO CP-130 MILSATCOM/SAL-3 Compliant
NATO SATCOM Services - 6th Generation (NSS6G) Member
Works with all NATO CP-130-compliant MILSATCOM terminals (i.e. WGS terminals)
Non-preemptible service
Encrypted command and control links to NATO standard
Launched in 2018 from Vandenburg SFB, California, the Spanish MoD's "PAZ" (or "Peace") satellite provides high-resolution, all-weather X-band imaging services that are totally independent of weather. While ostensibly designed for Spanish MoD purposes, this advanced X-band imaging satellite can and does support a wide variety of civil and military applications today. Key features:
Low-earth polar orbit
Flexible imaging aperture, ranging from WideScan SAR images (270 x 200 km), perfect for Maritime Domain Awareness/Broad Area Maritime Search functions; to Staring Spotlight SAR images (4 x 4 km) with submeter (25 cm) resolution, with ground control point (GCP) generation capabilities suitable for targeting.
On-board AIS receiver readily identifies dark vessels, useful for anti-smuggling/counternarcotics efforts, and other border security purposes.
Radar interferometry, provides detailed Coherent Change Detection (CCD) capabilities, perfect for capturing subtle changes in topography and detailed pattern-of-life analyses.
Common civil applications include digital elevation model (DEM) production, ice monitoring, cartography, and reference mapping for large infrastructure/construction projects (bridges, highways, etc)..
A replacement satellite for Spanish MoD's earth observation needs is already in planning.
XTAR FCSA Transponded Services Contract
Direct commercial contracting with XTAR
FCSA Transponded Services reseller contracts
FCSA Subscription Services and CS2 contracts through XTAR partners
Other U.S. and non-U.S. contract vehicles
From Wikipedia’s article on XTAR, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
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