According to SpaceNews, the U.S. government has approved the L3Harris Meadowlands ground-based satellite-jamming system for potential export to select allies through the Foreign Military Sales program. This rare move for sensitive electromagnetic warfare tech was announced on December 10th, following an “international initial baseline review.” Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant of Space Systems Command indicated sales would likely be limited to Five Eyes intelligence partners—the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The command is currently handling 81 international FMS cases worth about $200 million, a caseload that’s nearly doubling annually. The Space Force approved Meadowlands for fielding in May 2025, and L3Harris recently delivered initial units to the service’s electromagnetic warfare organization.
The Geopolitics of Jamming
This is a big deal. Exporting a system designed to “detect, identify, disrupt or jam adversary satellite communications” isn’t like selling a few fighter jets. It’s handing over a key to a very specific door in modern warfare. The fact that it’s limited to Five Eyes tells you everything. This isn’t about making money; it’s about creating a tightly knit, interoperable electronic warfare bloc. Think of it as a technological blood pact. If a conflict kicks off, these allies can theoretically coordinate to blanket an adversary’s comms, blinding and deafening them in a synchronized way that’s far more effective than going it alone. It’s a force multiplier, but it also deeply entwines allied military strategies.
What Meadowlands Actually Does
So what are we really talking about here? Meadowlands is an upgraded, more automated version of a system L3Harris first rolled out in 2020. It’s mounted on trailers for quick movement—making it a shoot-and-scoot asset that’s hard to target. The upgrade expanded its jamming frequency range and reduced the crew needed to run it. Basically, it’s a more potent, more deployable, and easier-to-use electronic attack tool. Ed Zoiss, the L3Harris division president, frames it as a response to “growing adversary counterspace threats.” That’s corporate-speak for: everyone is building these capabilities, so we need to give our side a temporary but decisive edge by silencing the other guy’s space-based chat room during a fight.
The Industrial and Competitive Shift
Here’s the thing: this approval signals a shift in the defense market. Companies like L3Harris aren’t just building for the U.S. military anymore; they’re now building *exportable configurations* for a vetted club. That changes the R&D calculus and production scale. It creates a “haves vs. have-nots” dynamic even among U.S. allies. For a nation’s defense industrial base, being the provider of such a critical, niche capability is a massive win. It cements L3Harris’s role as a premier EW prime contractor. And let’s be real—while the initial club is tiny, the precedent is set. The list of “approved” allies for such tech has a way of slowly expanding over time. Other defense giants will be watching closely and likely pushing for similar clearances for their own systems.
The Bigger Picture in Space Warfare
This move blurs the line between defensive and offensive space capabilities. Jamming is often considered a “reversible” or non-kinetic effect—you turn it off, and the satellite (hopefully) works again. That makes it more palatable for export than, say, an anti-satellite missile. But it normalizes the idea of space as a contested domain where electronic attacks are just another tool. The Space Force’s FMS caseload exploding tells you that allies are desperate for these capabilities. They see the direction of warfare and want in. The U.S. is strategically choosing to share, but on its own strict terms. It’s a controlled proliferation, aiming to keep the technological high ground within a trusted circle while presenting a united front to adversaries. The battlefield of the future isn’t just in the air or on the ground; it’s in the invisible spectrum connecting it all, and the U.S. is now carefully arming its friends for that fight.
