Better Buying for SATCOM

Military Information Technology – Commercial satellite operators are hailing a recently approved congressional provision that encourages the Department of Defense to investigate using multi-year leases for commercial satellite services and for procuring government-owned payloads on commercial satellites. Signed by President Obama in late 2013, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2014 includes…

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Private SATCOM’s Promise

Satellite providers find military demands tough to plan for C4ISR & Networks – At the peak of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the demand for high-definition full motion video was so intense that about 90 percent of the bandwidth used by U.S. Central Command was supplied by commercial satellites, said Robert Tipton Osterthaler, CEO…

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Demand for X-band to Persist Despite US Military Drawbacks

Via Satellite – Providers of X-band services may find more staying power in military areas of operation. XTAR, an X-band satellite operator, has mentioned that the general downturn in satellite capacity demand has not been as acute as what is seen for other bandwidths. The key reason for this, according to the operator, is the continued…

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XTAR Awarded $5.6M Manned Airborne ISR Contract Renewal

XTAR Press Release – XTAR has been awarded a $5.6M contract renewal from L-3 Communication Systems-West to provide X-band satellite connectivity to the U.S. Army for manned airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (AISR) mission support. The recent L-3 award caps off another year of significant growth for XTAR in support of airborne applications.

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Balancing Bandwidth Needs with Increased Efficiency

Via Satellite – U.S. DoD’s needs for innovation investments to maximize all assets (Milsatcom & commercial) has never been greater. With the drawdown in Afghanistan complete and new hot spots emerging, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) military planners must wrestle with both shrinking defense budgets and fewer ground forces at their command. The need for innovation investments…

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Maintaining Security for Hosted Payloads

I recently participated in the annual Hosted Payload Summit here in Washington, D.C.  The critical issue of security for government users of hosted payloads was top of everyone’s mind.  These users will not deploy their sensitive and critical applications on hosted payloads if they feel that cyber-security measures have not been well defined and successfully…

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