[Satellite Today 01-30-09] ViaSat Inc. and the U.S. Army extended the vehicular Blue Force Tracking 2 (BFT2) demonstration with U.S. Army Aviation BFT2 demonstrations aboard a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, ViaSat announced Jan. 29.
    ViaSat’s ArcLight BFT2 satellite communication network delivered 122 kilobits per second of IP traffic to ground terminals over an Inmarsat I4 satellite channel, compared to the 5.2 kilobits per second performance of the current BFT system.
    ViaSat also completed a number of demonstrations of the aviation version of the BFT2 terminal on a Blackhawk helicopter maneuvering at speeds up to 150 knots.