Government/Military

[Satellite Today 10-21-08] The U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Acquisition Policy Working Group (DAWG) has decided to halt the contract award competition between Boeing and Lockheed Martin to build the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) until at least 2010, according to a statement from the DAWG.     No official date has been rescheduled, however, the...

[Satellite News 10-21-08] Niether Boeing nor Lockheed Martin were notified by the U.S. Department of Defense of any delay in the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) program, despite the Pentagon’s press announcement that the contract award competition between the two companies has been shelved until at least 2010.     Lockheed Martin and Boeing both lead...

[Satellite News 10-16-08] Commercial satellite operators used the Satcon 2008 conference as a forum to push and develop military partnerships to provide communications services to combat forces and military command centers. Intelsat has been a frequently mentioned player in this field, not only from industry analysts, but from military officials who have expressed interest in...

[Satellite News 10-16-08] The U.S. military’s desire for a dedicated, exclusive military communications network has turned into a future partnership and dependency on commercial satellite operators. But that paradigm shift will not come easy.     On a military satellite communications panel at Satcon 2008, Inmarsat Vice President Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch called the relationship between the U.S....

[Satellite Today 10-14-08] Globecomm Systems introduced a 1.2-meter X-band auto-acquisition satellite terminal as part of its Auto-Explorer system, the company announced Oct. 14. The system provides government and military customers with a compact, self-contained X-band terminal that can be set up by a single person in less than 15 minutes, Globecomm said. An auto-acquisition system...

[Satellite News 10-14-08] The rebuilding of Iraq’s communications infrastructure topped the agenda at Iraq Telecoms 2008, and satellite is one of six main areas the Iraqi government is focusing on as it looks to rebuild the system.     Fixed line and mobile telephony penetration rates are still low, and with a lack of a comprehensive...

[Satellite Today 10-13-08] Lockheed Martin delivered the core structure for the first satellite in the U.S. Navy‘s Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) constellation, Lockheed Martin announced Oct. 13.     Equipped with an integrated propulsion subsystem, the satellite is the largest A2100 spacecraft core structure ever built by Lockheed Martin. The MUOS constellation is set to...

[Satellite Today 10-13-08] DataPath Inc. has been awarded two delivery orders totaling $4.8 million by the U.S. Army for spare electronics and other equipment used to operate and maintain hundreds of DataPath Satellite Transportable Terminals (STT), the company announced Oct. 13.     DataPath’s STTs are deployed to deliver high-bandwidth communications capabilities at forward-operating locations as...

[Satellite Today 10-09-08] GeoEye released an initial image of Kutztown University, located in Pennsylvania, following the launch of the GeoEye-1 satellite and its ITT-built imaging payload, GeoEye announced Oct. 9.     The image was collected at noon while GeoEye-1 was moving north to south in a 680-kilometer-high orbit over the Eastern Seaboard of the United...

 [Satellite Today 10-09-08] ViaSat Inc. was awarded an additional lot order for Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) terminals from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego, ViaSat announced Oct. 9.     The order, valued at about $3 million, augments a recently announced $59 million Lot 9 delivery order received by ViaSat as...