Global Xpress
Photo: Inmarsat

[Via Satellite 07-30-2014] Boeing, working with ViaSat, has signed its first U.S. government customer for Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX). Boeing reports the customer has rights to military Ka-band capacity on the first GX satellite, Inmarsat 5, until Sept. 30, 2015.

Inmarsat is launching three high throughput satellites (HTS) for GX, with the option of launching a fourth. Boeing is building all four satellites and is also a Value Added Reseller (VAR) for GX.

“The government continues to have an unmet demand for military satellite communications, and we believe that commercially available space assets can play a vital role in helping to meet this demand,” said Jim Mitchell, vice president of Boeing Commercial Satellite Services. “Our mission is to identify and facilitate the use of available commercial communications capacity on behalf of U.S. government customers and allies.”