Government/Military

What do the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Nashville’s floods, California’s wild fires, vegetation stress and military intelligence operations in Afghanistan have in common? According to DigitalGlobe Vice President of U.S. Defense Sales Steve Wood, all of these major world events are supported by the same commercial satellite imagery applications.     At DigitalGlobe, Wood recently...

Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) CEO Marian Blakey said her organization is “encouraged” by space-related provisions included in the U.S. Fiscal 2011 Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress on May 27.     In a statement released June 3, Blakey hailed supportive language in the Defense Authorization Act for the creation of a joint Defense Department and...

Globecomm has received a $7.9 million increase in the total value of a four-year contract from an unnamed U.S. government prime contractor, the company announced May 26.     Globecomm will provide satellite earth stations and services, as well as voice, video, and data services from its managed network service businesses. This contract is part of...

Harris Corp. has received a $55 million delivery order for advanced satellite terminals under the U.S. Army‘s Modernization of Enterprise Terminals (MET) program, the company announced May 26.     Harris will supply large fixed terminals, large fixed terminals with High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) protection and transportable terminals of the standard and hardened configurations to the...

Tachyon Networks has completed in-flight testing of its new ATR-9300 airborne terminal for the mobile coms-on-the-move (COTM) market and ISR applications, the company announced May 25.     Tachyon said it has developed an Ultra Small Aperture Terminal (USAT) based aeronautical terminal achieving mobile data transmission rates of 10Mbps x 2.8Mbps, operating in Ku-band beams in...

Northrop Grumman has completed flight-testing of an airborne satellite communications system installed on a modified business jet aircraft to connect with a WGS via the Ka-band link, the company announced May 25.     The system, part of a network that aims to enhance communications capabilities for warfighters, represents the first airborne terminal system to be...

TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) has been awarded a $1.8 million contract extension with the U.S. Department of Defense to continue providing managed bandwidth services for fixed satellite terminal sites supporting U.S. government personnel in forward operating areas in Southwest Asia and Iraq, TCS announced May 7.     TCS will continue to provide its voice, video and...

Lockheed Martin has delivered a UHF satellite communications system module for the second satellite in the U.S. Navy‘s Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) program, the company announced April 29.       The MUOS module, which aims to provide assured communications, including simultaneous voice, video and data, to mobile warfighters, features a wideband code division multiple...

Iridium Communications has established a U.S. government advisory board to counsel the company on products and services for federal and state civilian, defense, intelligence and law enforcement customers, Iridium announced April 29.      Initial members of the board include Donald Kerr, a research professor in George Mason University’s Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering,...

OHB-System AG, part of OHB Technology AG, won contracts under the E-SGA (Europeanization of Satellite-Based Reconnaissance) program to operate ground stations that will provide greater access to information gathered by SAR-Lupe and Helios 2 systems to French and German forces, OHB announced May 4.     The German Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement awarded...