Astrium Services has entered into an agreement with Avanti Communications to use Ka-band transponder capacity on the upcoming Hylas 1 satellite to test future military and government services, Astrium announced.
    System tests on the satellite will cover military use of Ka-band, including tactical and coms-on-the-move terminals in field locations. It will be based in the United Kingdom and use in-house system and terminal capabilities supplied by Astrium Secure Satcom Systems.
    In a statement, Astrium Services CEO Eric Beranger said the goal of the Hylas 1 capacity lease is to validate potential future service opportunities and capitalize on the wave of military Ka-band interest. “Military Ka-band capability will play a very strong role in future Con Ops, particularly for very high data rate services to and from disadvantaged terminals in theatre. One area we are looking at is multiple Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) streaming real time surveillance data to support military or governmental operations across areas of military or political interest. Current satellite systems simply do not have the available bandwidth to support such operations.”
    Financial details of the contract were not disclosed.