Government/Military

SES Government Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, has teamed with prime contractor Bushtex to provide commercial Ku-band bandwidth to U.S. Air Combat Command (ACC). This satellite communications capability will support training and testing operations in the continental U.S. Bushtex, a woman- and minority-owned small business based in Arizona, is a satellite communications provider that currently...

MDA, a Maxar Technologies company, signed a multi-million dollar contract with the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) for a one-year maritime surveillance program that includes the delivery of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data products from the Rardarsat-2 satellite, using MDA’s global network of ground receiving stations. The contract includes two additional option years. As...

The United States Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) officially awarded global communications company Viasat an eight-year, firm-fixed price contract to provide U.S. government senior leader and VIP aircraft with in-flight broadband and connectivity services. The base year award value is $55.6 million. The period of performance for the base year award is Sept. 1, 2018, through...

DigitalGlobe, a Maxar Technologies company, received a renewal award for the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery (Global EGD) contract from the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Global EGD provides U.S. government users with on-demand access to mission-ready, high-resolution satellite imagery in multiple classification levels, typically within two to four hours after image collection. Global EGD has...

Cubic‘s Mission Solutions (CMS) business division received orders worth more than $55 million to deliver its inflatable satellite communication and networking systems to the U.S. Army. These orders will satisfy the Army’s upcoming fielding need for 1.2- and 2.4-meter Ground Antenna Transmit and Receive (GATR) systems, associated spares, as well as training and sustainment support....

Speedcast International, a provider of remote communication and Information Technology (IT) solutions, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Globecomm Systems from affiliates of HPS Investment Partners, Tennenbaum Capital Partners, and other members of Globecomm for an estimated net purchase consideration of $135 million, including expected purchase price adjustments. Globecomm is a provider of remote...

In September, NASA will launch a laser instrument and begin mission to measure changes in the heights of Earth’s polar ice. NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESAT-2) will measure the average annual elevation change of land ice covering Greenland and Antarctica to within the width of a pencil, capturing 60,000 measurements per second. ICESAT-2 represents a major...

Communications and Power Industries (CPI) acquired Orbital Systems and Quorum Communications from its co-founders. The acquired companies design and manufacture associated ground-based full-motion antenna products that play a key role in communications applications. Orbital Systems provides antenna systems primarily for communications with earth observation satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Telemetry, Tracking, and Control...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for installation of AerSale’s AerTrak system on Boeing 757-200 series aircraft (ST04011NY), to comply with the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) operations rule — a critical part of the agency’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, the FAA has mandated that aircraft operating...

SSL, a Maxar Technologies company, and a provider of satellite and spacecraft systems will help define next-generation protected communications for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. SSL will develop, test, and analyze antenna subsystem prototypes through a contract with the Space Enterprise Consortium, managed by Advanced Technology International. Leveraging its knowledge of...