Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY Insider 01-18-12] Canada will enter a pact with the United States and Australia in the 10-satellite Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) project to provide secure communications for Canadian Forces, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay confirmed Jan. 17.    The Canadian government will pledge $337.3 million toward the project, which will go toward building WGS-9,...

[Satellite TODAY 01-18-12] Hughes Network Systems has been awarded a contract to provide airborne and maritime tactical communications solutions for an unnamed international Coalition partner supporting intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) initiatives, the company announced Jan. 17.    Hughes said it would employ its advanced HX System platform to provide full Internet Protocol (IP) functionality...

[Satellite TODAY 01-18-12] ViaSat has received U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) certification for the second release of its AltaSec IPS-250 inline network encryption system, a software-only upgrade for ViaSat’s IPS-250, the company announced Jan. 17.    The IPS-250 is used for operations in high risk and unmanned environments. The new release of the AltaSec IPS-250...

[Satellite TODAY 01-18-12] The United States will enter talks with the European Union (EU) to set informal rules aimed at limiting debris in space that threatens satellites, according to a Jan. 17 report.    The Washington Post cited an unnamed U.S. Department of State official, who said that the talks would be announced soon.  ...

Boeing has won a $377 million contract modification with the U.S. Air Force to continue work on its constellation of Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellites, the Pentagon confirmed Jan. 16.    The firm, fixed-price contract runs through May 2013 and exercises an option under a previously negotiated contract for Boeing to produce, process, launch and activate a ninth...

SES Government Solutions (SES-GS) has begun its U.S. Air Force demonstration period for the Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload (CHIRP) after successfully completed initial on-orbit testing. CHIRP is housed on the SES-2 satellite, which was launched in September.   Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) designed CHIRP’s field-of-view sensor technology. Orbital Sciences Corp. built the SES-2 satellite that hosts the unit. CHIRP is the first commercially hosted...

The Pentagon kicked off a busy year for its Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) program by awarding a significant satellite ground infrastructure contract to aerospace, defense and information solutions provider ITT Exelis, which will provide mission support to its WGS operations centers and management sites around the world.    The $121 million Wideband Satcom Operations and Technical Support (WSOTS) contract was...

Peter Hadinger joined Inmarsat’s Global Xpress team as President of Inmarsat Government Services last April. After a long career as a satellite engineer and business development executive at Northrop Grumman and TRW, Hadinger now works to develop Global Xpress satcom solutions for a broad range of government missions and integrate those services into future government systems. Hadinger...

[Satellite TODAY 01-17-12] Boeing has won a $377 million contract modification with the U.S. Air Force to continue work on its constellation of Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellites, the Pentagon confirmed Jan. 16.    The firm, fixed-price contract runs through May 2013 and exercises an option under a previously negotiated contract for Boeing to produce,...

The U.S. Air Force’s space and missile systems center has awarded Raytheon a $27.4 million to develop a launch and checkout system for the Air Force’s GPS 3 satellites, the company announced Jan. 12.    Raytheon was chosen in February 2010 as the prime contractor to develop the GPS Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX), which is scheduled...