Government/Military

In July, at the Seattle World Affairs Council, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, leader of U.S. Central Command, discussed how broadband IP network technology won the 2008 battle of Sadr City, Iraq, as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and warfighters using broadband communications on the move played key roles. In small or large battlefield operations of...

A U.S. Air Force technology program is scheduled to get new sensing technology in orbit within just two years instead of the typical seven. Separately, Australian Defense Force (ADF) officials estimate that taxpayers will save more than $100 million on its UHF payload program. Both are examples of military payloads that will be hosted on...

The United States remains the global leader in space-based military capabilities. However, with more nations than ever looking to develop these capabilities, the United States wants to foster greater cooperation when using these assets. In separate discussions, U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Susan Helms, director plans and policy, U.S. Strategic Command, and Brig. Gen. John...

Boeing, Iridium Complete U.S. Navy GPS System Upgrades Iridium Satellite and Boeing achieved two milestones in coordinated efforts to develop and demonstrate capability enhancements to a high-integrity GPS program for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. For the first milestone, the companies completed an enhanced narrowband software modification to computers on Iridium satellites, enabling second-generation GPS-aiding...

In a few of the past columns , we discussed the expanding role of commercial satellite capacity and network services for military and other government use, the role of integrators or aggregators serving as

[Satellite TODAY 09-01-09] Palapa D, an Indonesian communications satellite that was reported by officials to have failed to enter orbit, has been captured and is now able to conduct orbiting maneuvers, said manufacturer Thales Alenia Space, in a statement to Chinese press officials, released Aug. 31.     The satellite was launched Aug. 31 aboard a Long...

The military satellite communications landscape has seen some significant events in 2009, none bigger than the formal cancellation of the Transformational Satellite Communications System program. The program was intended to provide thousands of military users with wideband, highly mobile, beyond line-of-sight, protected communications to support network-centric operations for the future battlefield. While next-generation military satellite...

[Satellite TODAY 09-01-09] The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) abandoned the Chandrayaan-1 lunar-orbiting satellite after scientists lost control of the satellite and failed to revive communication, ISRO officials announced Aug. 31.      The agency said the cause of the communications failure is unknown and that an investigation is underway. The loss of Chandrayaan-1 follows an...

[Satellite TODAY 08-31-09] Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) delayed a test firing on Thursday for NASA’s Ares launch vehicle due to a mechanical failure, NASA announced Aug. 27.     NASA noted that a power unit, which drives hydraulic tilt controls for the rocket’s nozzle, had failed, causing the test to be cancelled with 20 seconds left...

[Satellite TODAY 08-31-09] The GPS 2R-21 M satellite, the last in the series of eight U.S. military GPS-2R satellites, has been declared operational for military and civilian users, the U.S. Air Force announced Aug. 27.     The satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, was launched Aug. 17 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Fla. GPS 2R-21...