Military forces could soon gain faster and more resilient battlefield communications with Viasat’s new Tactical Mission Fabric (TMF), an edge-to-cloud platform designed to support AI-enabled operations in contested environments.
TMF combines multi-path connectivity, mesh networking, distributed cloud computing, and software-defined orchestration to maintain secure data flow across satellite, 5G, tactical radio, and other military networks without replacing existing infrastructure.
According to the company, the platform enables near real-time data sharing and supports operational decision-making across multi-domain environments, spanning air, land, sea, space, and cyber.
David Schmolke, vice president of mission connections and cybersecurity at Viasat, said TMF is designed to prevent missions from being “hampered by stovepiped networks.”
“TMF is built to help the Joint Force operate when communications links are disrupted or under attack,” he added.
The platform also integrates secure edge computing and cloud connectivity intended to reduce latency for AI and machine learning workloads, enabling faster processing of battlefield data closer to the point of collection.
Viasat plans to demonstrate TMF at Modern Day Marine 2026 alongside Amazon Web Services and Accelint, simulating a contested network attack while maintaining AI-enabled targeting and tactical data synchronization.
Push For Resilient Military Networks
The launch comes as defense organizations expand AI-enabled operations through more resilient architectures, distributed computing models, and forward-deployed processing.
Booz Allen Hamilton recently backed AI-native wireless network concepts aimed at transforming communications systems into distributed compute grids that support faster mission execution at the network edge.
The announcement also aligns with a recent US Department of the Air Force strategy prioritizing distributed data access and AI-enabled systems to speed up battlefield decision-making.
Separately, Syracuse Research Corporation introduced a mission processor designed to support rapid battlefield data analysis at the tactical level.
