Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 09-01-11] Gilat Satellite Networks has been contracted by an unnamed customer in Latin America to provide a multi-million dollar SkyEdge 2 VSAT broadband network and services for security communications, Gilat announced Aug. 31.    Gilat said the customer would use the network to provide video surveillance and command and control applications to secure...

[Satellite News 09-01-11] While NASA’s cost estimates for its Space Launch System (SLS) program’s budget planning are reasonable in a three-to-five-year budget horizon, program cost efficiencies could represent a risk to the program and lead to the impression that the estimates are optimistic, according to an independent study released Aug. 20 by Booz Allen Hamilton...

There are a number of factors that have placed the military satellite communications landscape in a state of evolution. With most countries in the western world coming to grips with major debt issues, expensive technology projects and new acquisition strategies can often get shelved as governments simply won’t allocate the funds or deviate from the...

Integral Systems Issued DARPA F6 BAA Architecture Subcontract Integral Systems received a $468,000 contract from mZeal Communications to provide space systems expertise and Multi-level Secure (MLS) network architecture to support mZeal’s Mission-Aware Network Architecture for Small-Satellite Adaptive Systems (MANASSAS) project. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued the MANASSAS prime contract under its...

[Satellite TODAY 08-31-11] Kratos Defense and Security Solutions’ Satcom business unit has been awarded $6 million in contracts to provide satellite communications products, satellite ground systems, network infrastructure products and on-going services to unnamed government customers, the company announced Aug. 20.    The contract awards include specialized value added services to the military, government and...

[Satellite TODAY 08-30-11] Wholesale integrated 4G-LTE network operator LightSquared and mobile satellite operator Inmarsat have launched an initiative to coordinate resources to support Hurricane Irene relief efforts, the companies announced Aug. 29.    LightSquared said the effort aims to ensure that both companies’ emergency services customers affected by the storm have reliable access to essential...

[Satellite TODAY 08-29-11] T-Mobile USA has introduced a new satellite-backed service for backhaul connectivity to government customers, which aims to enable first responders to stay connected during an emergency without having to switch to a different device, the cellular service provider announced Aug. 26.    The service, Persistent Communication Solutions by T-Mobile, can be used...

[Satellite TODAY 08-26-11] L-3 Narda Satellite Networks (L-3 Narda) has awarded a multi-million dollar subcontract to ASC Signal to provide more than 100, 3.9-meter, quad-band, fly-away antenna components and systems that will support high-frequency communications over commercial and government satellites, ASC Signal announced Aug. 25.    ASC Signal will provide L-3 Narda with precision-tracking antenna...

[Satellite TODAY 08-26-11] Raytheon completed an NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) compatibility test for its Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) ground system, the company announced Aug. 25.             Raytheon said the compatibility test consisted of 288 hours of continuous mission-like operations, exercising the flow of mission data from the Norwegian testing site and through its command,...

[Satellite TODAY 08-24-11] The second of Boeing’s 12 GPS 2F satellites has achieved operational acceptance and entered service for the U.S. Air Force, the satellite manufacturer announced Aug. 22.             GPS 2F-2, which was launched July 16 and renamed SVN-63, completed in-orbit testing to join the active 31-satellite GPS constellation operated by the Air Force...