Shifting Fortunes for Commercial X-Band

Aerospace America – The war in Afghanistan sparked a booming market for commercially provided satellite communications in the X-band range of 8-12 GHz. This frequency band is reserved exclusively for government use by the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union. Commanders, troops, and intelligence analysts needed to share maps, detailed satellite images, and electrooptical and infrared videos of villages and roads. The U.S. government’s satellites could not cover all of the demand. But now the U.S. and its allies are planning to bring most troops home from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, and the U.S. is trying to shift more of its diplomatic and military partnership resources toward the Pacific region to meet a rising China. That pivot could spell business trouble for commercial X-band providers, because it is a region largely uncovered by them. Read More