Paratroopers with U.S. Army Alaska’s 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, snowshoe across the drop zone during Exercise Spartan Pegasus Feb. 24 at Deadhorse, Alaska. Photo: U.S. Army/Staff Sgt. Daniel Love.

Iridium Communications announced that Comsat has signed an agreement to become the Iridium Certus service provider for U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) users. This long-term deal will allow Comsat to provide Iridium’s global satellite broadband connectivity for mobile voice and data services to DOD beginning in mid-2018.

Comsat will bring its full suite of value-added services to the Iridium Certus program, and intends to deliver enhanced capabilities that meet Communications Security (ComSec) requirements for the DOD and warfighter. These capabilities include real-time usage statistics, telematics data, voice calling, personnel tracking applications, and real-time environmental assessments.

According to Iridium, Certus terminals are capable of maintaining broadband connectivity in unpredictable environments on land, at sea, and in the air. The service will debut at speeds of 352 Kbps, with terminals upgradable to 704 Kbps through a future firmware update.

Through the service, U.S. government users will be able to securely connect remote assets to respective command and control centers back on U.S. soil from anywhere on the planet including Arctic and Antarctic regions, Iridium stated.