[Satellite Today 04-16-09] Comtech EF Data Corp. won a $2.1 million order from the U.S. military for satellite communications equipment that will be used to upgrade existing battlefield systems to operate on the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) system, Comtech announced April 15.
    The order includes Comtech’s DMD2050 satellite modem, a universal satellite modem suited for flyaway and supporting a variety of data rates up to 52 megabits per second.
    The U.S. Air Force has placed two of least six WGS satellites into orbit. Each satellite will have the capacity to transmit information at rates of more than 3 gigabits per second, or more than 10 times the capacity of the government’s Defense Satellite Communications System.