[Satellite TODAY 11-01-10] ViaSat has completed operational testing of an airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) satcom system that will transmit at speeds of 4 Mbps through a high-speed return link off the aircraft, the company announced Oct. 29.
    The tests were conducted during live missions on a U.S. Special Operations Command C-130 aircraft operating in Afghanistan and using an upgraded ViaSat ArcLight satellite system. The upgrade consisted of a modem replacement on the aircraft, which was already equipped with a VR-12 11.5-inch Ku-band antenna transmitting full motion video from the aircraft to a hub also located in Afghanistan.
   ViaSat was named the winner of the U.S. Army’s Blue Force Tracking-2 contract in July. ViaSat’s BFT-2 solution is based on the company’s ArcLight solution.
   “Besides the obvious advantage of the higher data rates, the ease of modifying the more than 200 aircraft already equipped with ArcLight is a major advantage. The new modem retains the full functionality of the ArcLight system and adds a new mode that provides much higher data rates. That compatibility also enables customers to use our worldwide Yonder network, as well as roam among various government-specific ArcLight networks,” ViaSat Director of Business Development Larry Taylor said in a statement.