Government/Military

[Via Satellite 02-07-2014] TeleCommunication Systems has entered into a $6.8 million contract with the U.S. Army to provide maritime-stabilized VSAT satellite systems and associated engineering systems, a part of the TCS TotalCom solution. The deal was issued under the Global Tactical Advanced Communication Systems and Services (GTACS) contract vehicle. The maritime solution will provide Army...

[Via Satellite 01-31-2014] Raytheon reported high earnings in the fourth quarter of 2013, but reported lower-than-expected revenues due to the decline in U.S. military spending, an effect of the 2011 Budget Control Act. The 2013 fourth quarter and full-year results call also revealed that 2014 and 2015 are expected be transitional or “down” years for...

[Via Satellite 01-31-2014] Inmarsat Government has announced that its Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) Software Defined Radio (SDR) waveform received Software Communications Architecture (SCA) compliance certification from the Joint Tactical Radio System Test and Evaluation Laboratory (JTRS JTEL). The SCA, which determines how software applications and hardware platforms should interact, minimizes the effort needed to...

[Via Satellite 01-31-2014] Comtech Telecommunications announced that its subsidiary Comtech EF Data Corp. has been awarded a $3.1 million order from a government systems integrator for DoubleTalk Carrier-in-Carrier powered DMD2050E Satellite Modems. This new equipment will support the U.S. government’s integrated satellite terminal communications. The DMD2050E modems will use DoubleTalk Carrier-in-Carrier bandwidth compression, a system...

[Via Satellite 01-30-2014] Galileo, the EU satellite navigation program, and Copernicus, the EU Earth monitoring program, will soon establish Europe’s own satellite navigation system. With the launch of six additional Galileo satellites, and the first launch of the Copernicus satellite scheduled for March, the European version of GPS system is becoming more advanced. The new...

In January 2013, five companies — Eutelsat America, Intelsat General, Telesat, XTAR and SES Government Solutions (SES-GS) — submitted a white paper to the United States Department of Defense (DoD) titled “Seven Ways to Make the DoD a Better Buyer of Commercial Satcom.” The paper outlined goals for the DoD to acquire commercial satellite communication...

Military strategies for procuring commercial satellite capabilities are designed to provide the best resources possible to the warfighter. This process is complicated, however, and requires expertise from both the commercial side and the government side. SES Government Solutions found that combination in its corporate Vice President Bill Flynn. Bringing 26 years of service in the...

[Via Satellite 01-27-2014] Boeing has received the first on-orbit signals from the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS L). As the fifth Boeing-built satellite to join NASA’s space communications network, the TDRS will assist in communication with orbiting spacecraft, studying the Earth’s changing climate and looking into deep space through the Hubble Space Telescope. “This...

[Via Satellite 01-24-2014] The United States Air Force is nearing the point of making a decision regarding its competition to provide the Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T), which connect to Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites for secure communications with forces in the event of nuclear activity or other extreme conditions. Boeing and...

[Via Satellite 01-23-2014] Inmarsat Government has finalized its agreement to be a Value Added Reseller (VAR) for Inmarsat Global Xpress. As a cleared company under a proxy agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Inmarsat Government will provide assured access supported by a team of U.S. security-cleared professionals. “The Global Xpress system will represent...