Xtar has acquired a significant segment of the airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (AISR) market over the last year under various contracts valued at over $8 million and more than 100 MHz of bandwidth, the company announced Dec. 12.
   According to these contracts, XTAR will provide high-powered X-band capacity via its Xtar-Lant and Xtar-Eur payloads, designed to support critical services on manned aircraft using advanced antennas designed specifically for airborne applications. The capacity aims to provide service extending from North and South America to Africa and the Middle East.
   “Xtar and X-band are supporting increasingly significant warfighter requirements, especially for vital intelligence gathering missions within the AISR market,” Xtar President and COO Philip Harlow said in a statement. “The value-added integrators working with Xtar to support these missions continue to focus on X-band because they understand commercial X-band’s strength, especially for government users requiring satellite solutions that are not supported by government satellite resources.” Xtar’s success in the AISR market was achieved after an 18-month strategy to advance the company away from supporting traditional satellite applications and toward enabling the advanced applications necessary for today’s warfighter.