Government/Military

[Via Satellite 11-24-2015] Intelsat General has been awarded a contract to provide satellite services to the U.S. Air Force Central Command. The one-year contract calls for 144 MHz of Ku-bandwidth to support U.S. military operations in the Central Command area of responsibility. The service, which began in September 2015, has three one-year renewal option periods and...

[Via Satellite 11-18-2015] Lepton Global Solutions has unveiled its new Block Network, which allows customers to pre-purchase “blocks” of service, or one month allocations,
with coverage over individual regions or Combatant Commands (COCOMs) at
pre-negotiated prices. Once customers purchase blocks, they can request option files with 48 hours’
notice for any region in the world in which a...

[Via Satellite 11-17-2015] Analysts from VVA are disputing studies on the benefits of allocating C-band for use by the mobile industry that the GSM Association (GSMA) commissioned ahead of the 2015 World Radiocommunications Conference. The reports by Plum Consulting and Frontier Economics, posit that there would be substantial economic benefits in opening up certain amounts...

[Via Satellite 11-16-2015] Signal Mountain Networks and Hughes Network Systems have completed a managed satellite network at 80 sites for the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Under the contract, Signal Mountain and its subcontractor, Hughes, are providing the USGS with ongoing satellite communications services for collection of data from sites in the U.S. and Caribbean...

[Via Satellite 11-13-2015] Several international organizations including the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU), NetHope, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and the Space Frequency Coordination Group (SFCG), have voiced their desire...

[Via Satellite 11-11-2015] McMurdo has completed the installation of a six-antenna next-generation Medium-Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (MEOSAR) satellite ground station system in New Zealand. McMurdo expects the project, which is part of a joint initiative with Maritime New Zealand and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, to significantly boost search and rescue capability in the...

[Via Satellite 11-10-2015] The United States Air Force awarded Harris Corporation a $40 million, nine-month extension of the network and space operations and maintenance contract. The company will support the Air Force satellite control network at two network control locations in the U.S. and at antenna sites throughout the world. Harris received the contract during...

[Via Satellite 11-10-2015] General Dynamics and a consortium of industry partners have finished Increment A4 of NASA’s Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment (SGSS) program A4. This increment includes the ground antenna and associated control systems that are housed in a space Network Operations Center (NOC). The team also completed an end-to-end demonstration of the Increment...

[Via Satellite 11-06-2015] Harris Corporation announced Nov. 4 that the two unfurlable mesh antenna reflectors have successfully deployed onboard the U.S. Navy’s fourth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite. Lockheed Martin built the satellite and Harris fabricated the antennas along with the precision booms to secure them to the satellite. MUOS will consist of five...

[Via Satellite 11-04-2015] Global MilSatCom is one of the main events for military and communications executives and officials. Here, we look at the five key learnings from day two of the event. MUOS and the International Question The United Sates’ Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), which will likely be in full operation by summer next year,...