Government/Military

[07/23/08 – Satellite Today] The Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE) satellite completed its first experiment for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), satellite manufacturer General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, announced Aug. 23. During the experiment, NFIRE collected images of a boosting missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., that flew within 3.5 kilometers of...

[8/21/07 – Satellite Today] Comtech Mobile Datacom Corp. received a contract from Australia’s Optus Networks PTY Ltd. to provide satellite network infrastructure equipment and technical services to support the Australian Defense Force, parent company Comtech Telecommunications Corp. announced Aug. 21. Under the $1.3 million contract, Comtech will provide the packet data messaging and asset tracking...

[8/21/07 – Satellite Today] Rome Research Corp. received a contract from the U.S. Navy to operate and maintain communications satellite systems for the Naval Satellite Operations Center, parent company Par Technology Corp. announced Aug. 21. The Naval Satellite Operations Center operates, manages and maintain a variety of satellite systems on behalf of the Navy. Rome...

[8/20/07 – Satellite Today] Swe-Dish Satellite Systems has won a satellite terminal deal with Paradigm Services, which is authorized to lead satellite communications procurements for military users within the U.K. Ministry of Defence, Swe-Dish announced Aug. 20. Swe-Dish’s satellite communications systems offer users Ku- and X-band communications with two parallel autonomous sets of terminals. Swe-Dish...

[08/16/07 – Satellite Today] Boeing Co. completed the first phase of its nanosatellite research and experimentation with the conclusion of the CubeSat TestBed 1 mission, the company announced Aug. 16. The spacecraft was launched April 17 from Baikonur Cosmosdrome in Kazakhstan, and Boeing collected more than 500,000 sensor data points from the test bed during...

[08/16/07 – Satellite Today] Northrop Grumman Corp. has completed delivery of the antenna wings for the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) military communications satellite, the company announced Aug. 15. Shipment of the wings, including antennas and related mechanisms, to Lockheed Martin Space Systems was completed June 21. Each pair of antenna wings supports three...

NASA signed a $1.8 billion contract with Alliant Techsystems (ATK) for the design, development, testing and evaluation of the first stage of the Ares 1 and Ares 5 launch vehicles, the organizations announced. In December 2005 NASA named ATK the prime contractor to design and develop the Ares 1 first stage. The contract includes delivery...

Norsat International has had its third straight quarter of profit and also reached the milestone of being debt free for the first time in almost 25 years, after eliminating short-term debt. These were two of the highlights of its latest results announced August 14. The company, a provider of intelligent satellite solutions, also saw a...

Boeing has won a key contract extension, worth $30 million, to supply broadband services to the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command, the company announced August 14. The Boeing Service Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing, won a $30 million firm-fixed-price contract to continue providing Boeing Broadband Satcom Network (BBSN) service to the U.S. Air...

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TCS) is one of six prime contractors in the U.S. Army’s $5 billion Worldwide Satellite Systems (WWSS) contract awarded in 2006. The contract provides users with a single-source, turnkey, rapid-response solution for U.S. Department of Defense communications requirements including homeland security and disaster relief. Since being selected in September 2006 to provide...