U.S. Military Satellite Communications: Taking the High Ground with X-band SATCOM

On Saturday, March 18, the Department of Defense successfully launched the ninth of ten military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) satellites known as Wideband Global SATCOM – Nine (WGS-9) into orbit, bringing significantly more X-band and Ka-band SATCOM capacity into the hands of the U.S. Department of Defense and the militaries of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the…

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Take It With You!

Government users need to be accommodated with portability We all love to take our stuff with us, don’t we? Makes us more efficient. Makes us feel comfortable. Saves us from having to buy new things everywhere we go, right? Just think about how annoying it would be if you had to buy a new cell…

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Small UAVs: Overcoming SWaP Limitations with Smaller, Lighter, High-Throughput X-band SATCOM Terminals

Have you wondered what trends in business ultimately will be successful, and which are just flashes in the pan?  Look no further than everyday cell phones, the success of which is largely due to countless improvements overcoming Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) limitations of previous generations of cell phones and computing devices.  Not surprisingly, the UAV market faces the…

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All Aboard? Alleviating the Military’s SATCOM Cost Burden

Last week, satellite manufacturers and operators met with the Air Force in El Segundo for a frank exchange about the role of commercial satellites in Pathfinder 2.  Pathfinder is an initiative within the Air Force looking to build bridges with the commercial satellite industry in an effort to buy smarter SATCOM.

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Utilization and Flexibility: The Missing Pieces from WGS

Those who espouse the notion that commercial bandwidth is more expensive on a per-MHz rate than the cost of fielding a WGS system are likely overlooking several key factors. The average price for commercial bandwidth (as leased through DISA) divided by the lowest common denominator (the price of one MHz of commercial bandwidth for one…

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Form and Function: Why Settle When You Can Have Both?

I’ve always considered myself an amateur architect. I love both the aesthetic and structural characteristics of buildings, military installations, gardens and monuments. During my undergraduate studies I would hang out with my classmates who were in the architecture program, absorbing everything I could about the evolution of the discipline and the ways in which humans modify their…

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X-band Terminal Supply Meeting Mobility Demands

By Patti Aston Lately there has been an increase in Ka- and X-band terminal manufacturing and investment. A new focus on mobility — the application for which X- and Ka-band frequencies are particularly well suited – and on smaller antennas, are driving terminal manufacturers to innovate in ways not seen before. Simultaneously, manufacturers are bringing to market terminals…

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New Airborne SATCOM Terminals Are Game Changer

By Kelly Nicklin Satellites cover the majority of Earth. That could be good news for military and humanitarian airborne missions which, by their very nature, must adapt to frequently changing circumstances. Whether manned or unmanned, airborne communications are only as good as the satellite connection through which they transmit. Ku-band may be sufficient in certain…

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