Government/Military

Harbinger Capital Partners has sold a 14.1 percent stake in mobile satellite operator Inmarsat for about $652 million, the U.S. hedge fund announced.     Harbinger sold 65 million shares in the transaction and still holds another 14 percent of Inmarsat, which will be subject to a 180-day lock-up arrangement with Credit Suisse and UBS.    ...

Norsat received satellite terminal orders totaling $4.2 million from various U.S. government organizations, the company announced.     However, Norsat President and CEO Amiee Chan said the orders were received in the third quarter, which was later than the Canadian satellite company expected. Due to the delay, Chan said that Norsat would not be able to...

Boeing has acquired initial on-orbit signals from the U.S. Air Force’s first Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) satellite following its Sept. 25 launch by Orbital Sciences from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.     Boeing, which is responsible for overall program management, said the satellite is functioning normally and is ready to begin orbital maneuvers and...

Integral Systems has been awarded a sole source contract from an unnamed satellite service provider to expand its existing satellite fleet control system to support four Boeing 702 satellites already in orbit.     The customer’s legacy command and control system will be replaced with Integral Systems’ Epoch Integrated Product Suite (IPS) and the operations of...

[Satellite News 10-12-10] Engineers working for San Diego-based end-to-end satellite solution provider Tachyon Networks were inspired to develop their own military comms-on-the-move (COTM) solution after receiving feedback from customers for a product their company was re-selling. According to Tachyon Vice President of Sales and Marketing Dan Negroni, the challenge began with meeting customer demand. “These...

[Satellite TODAY 10-11-10] The U.S. Army has increased TeleCommunication Systems’ (TCS) potential satellite terminal spare parts order contract ceiling to $9.3 million, TCS announced Oct. 8. The order, which was made under the Army’s $5 billion World-Wide Satellite Systems (WWSS) contract vehicle, initially is funded at $5.3 million and will be funded up to $9.3...

[Satellite TODAY 10-08-10] TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) received an additional $12.3 million in funding from the U.S. Army for equipment and maintenance of Secret Internet Protocol Router (SIPR) and Non-secure Internet Protocol Router (NIPR) Access Point (SNAP) VSAT Satellite Systems deployed outside the United States, TCS announced Oct. 8.     The award constitutes an extension option...

[Satellite News 10-08-10] A European Commission (EC) budgetary report released Oct. 8 found that the European Union‘s (EU) non-geostationary Galileo satellite navigation system is over budget, behind schedule and will be unprofitable for the first several years of operation.     According to the EC, Galileo, Europe’s rival to the U.S. GPS constellation, has run up...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 10-07-10] NASA has delayed the launch of its Glory climate change detection satellite due to a problem with a control mechanism in one of its two solar arrays, the agency announced Oct. 6.     The Glory satellite, built by Orbital Sciences and worth more than $400 million, originally was scheduled for launch...

[Satellite TODAY 10-07-10] Integral Systems was awarded a $4.1 million task order to modernize the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s (NOAA) Polar Ground Systems (PGS), Integral announced Oct. 6.     The task order, which carries a base-year term and four option years, contracts Integral to upgrade the PGS’ ground station hardware and software to...