Government/Military

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded a $34 million contract to Orbital Sciences to develop an ESPA Augmented Geostationary Laboratory Equipment (EAGLE) system for small payloads functioning at geostationary orbit, Orbital Sciences announced.    The EAGLE spacecraft platform is based on the evolved expendable launch vehicle’s secondary payload adaptor (ESPA), which carries...

Hughes Europe and Bentley Walker have entered into a partnership to launch Ka-band communications services into the Middle East over the Avanti Hylas 2 satellite.    Bentley Walker has purchased three additional Gateway NOCs from Hughes as part of the agreement, which includes two HX System 4.0s to enable resellers to set up local Virtual...

Intelsat S.A. reported $654.9 million revenue and a net loss of $34.5 million for its 2012 third quarter ending Sept. 30, the satellite service provider announced Nov. 5.    Intelsat also reported a $471.1 million EBITDA and an adjusted EBITDA of 78 percent of revenue, $511.3 million, for its third quarter of 2012. According to...

[Satellite News 11-08-12] Government sequestration in the United States will significantly harm ongoing national defense operations and procurement of new systems needed by warfighters, Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) CEO Marion Blakey said in a statement published earlier this week to promote the organization’s Second to None campaign.    Blakey said sequestration will not only have...

 [Satellite TODAY 11-09-12] TP-Link will provide its registered Value Added Resellers (VAR’s) with free replacement and shipping for any damaged TP-Link products due to Hurricane Sandy, the network product supplier announced Nov. 8.       "TP-LINK recognizes the significant destruction and challenges many people are facing following Hurricane Sandy. As part of our continued...

[Satellite TODAY 11-09-12] The U.S. Air Force has awarded Raytheon Company an $11.5 million contract to further develop the Weather Data Analysis (WDA) system to deliver efficiencies and weather forecast analysis ability improvement, enabling warfighters to make critical mission decisions, the organizations announced Nov. 8.  "Enhancing WDA will deliver advanced capabilities to the Air Force,...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 11-07-12] There was little fanfare for Earth imagery provider GeoEye’s 2012 third quarter results call, mostly due to the fact that it was purchased by former rival DigitalGlobe in July. The company, however, produced higher-than-expected EBITDA and revenues during the quarter, along with an unexpected surge in production. GeoEye third-quarter revenues grew...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 11-06-12] Secure mobile communication technology provider TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) is one of 20 companies selected under the Pentagon’s Global Tactical Advanced Communication Systems and Services (GTACS) contract, which carries an estimated ceiling of $10 billion over five years, TCS announced Nov. 6. The multiple-awardee, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity GTACS contract vehicle was issued...

 [Satellite TODAY 11-06-12] Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) will design the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation Protected Military Satellite Communications (Milsatcom) program, the organizations announced Nov. 5. The contract for design concepts was issued by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, aiming to protect challenged and threatened high-security communications. SS/L plans to fulfill the contract by...

The launch of the IS-22 satellite with a hosted payload for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) heralded a new era in international milsatcom. Now, the commercial satellite industry will wait to see if others follow down this path, as it pitches alternative methods to provide more milsatcom capacity at more affordable prices for governments around...