Government/Military

BAE Systems Australia has contracted ViaSat to provide satellite ground stations for a high-speed upgrade to Australian Defense Force (ADF) satellite communications for $9.4 million, ViaSat announced Nov. 3.     ViaSat will provide multiple 9-meter Ka-band and 16-meter X-band earth terminals and services, with delivery scheduled for the third quarter of calendar 2011. The new...

Orbit Technologies signed a $3 million deal with two Israeli defense companies to supply a range of tracking solutions over the coming year, the company announced Oct. 26.     Orbit will supply the Israeli defense companies with small tactical systems based on its AL-4012 for tracking UAVs, large systems based on its AL-4018 intended for...

The U.S. Department of Defense extended its contract with Northrop Grumman to further demonstrate a GPS-free inertial navigation system through September, the company announced.     The demonstration project, Ladar EO GPS/INS atomic clock navigation demonstration, makes use of electro-optic cameras, atomic clocks and advanced vision processing technologies to provide inertial navigation system updates to aircraft,...

Rockwell Collins signed a deal with the Dutch Ministry of Defense to provide Swe-Dish satcom terminals, the company announced.     Rockwell Collins will deliver 23 CCT120 satcom terminals to the ministry as part of a contract awarded to 2connect-IT, a Netherland-based distributor for Swe-Dish terminals.     The Suitcase CCT120 satellite terminals feature a 1.2-meter antenna...

KVH Industries has received a total of $2 million in new orders from multiple U.S. and international military customers for its tactical navigation systems and universal multilingual displays, the company announced.     KVH will ship military vehicle navigation systems designed to provide unjammable, precision navigation, heading and pointing data for vehicle drivers, crews and commanders....

[Satellite TODAY 11-11-09] Norway has entered into an agreement with Spain to invest in the acquisition of a Spanish satellite that will improve communications with Norwegian defense forces deployed in Afghanistan and Chad as well as naval units on international missions, the Norwegian Defense Department announced Nov. 10.       The Norwegian government said it plans...

[Satellite TODAY 11-11-09] NexGen Communications, a partner of Iridium, was awarded a $9.7 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to supply 1,450 distributed tactical communication systems radio-only (DTCS-RO) devices to the U.S. military, the Pentagon announced Nov. 9.  The devices, which are branded as Netted Iridium and priced at $6,700 per unit, aim...

[Satellite News 11-09-09] After the cancellation of the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) program earlier this year, both U.S. military officials and commercial satellite companies realized that military satellite plans would have to be radically altered.     U.S. military speakers at the Global MilSatCom conference in London said it was a key time in terms...

[Satellite TODAY 11-06-09] RapidEye has been contracted by the European Space Agency (ESA) to provide satellite imagery for monitoring and change detection in areas prone to natural disasters, RapidEye announced Nov. 5.     The contract is based on a list of pre-defined, high-risk areas, for which RapidEye will provide satellite imagery before and after an...

[Satellite TODAY 11-06-09] EMS Technologies reported 2009 third-quarter revenues of $85.7 million and earnings from continuing operations of $5.8 million, a 17 percent increase compared with the same period in 2008 due to strong growth in satellite-based tracking, which offset aeronautical losses, the company announced Nov. 5.     EMS’s newly acquired Satamatics satellite-based tracking business...