Military Satellite News (July & August 2008)Visit
www.satnews.com/military for today's military satellite news
August 28, 2008
ANG And Their Shadows To Receive AAI Training
AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced the Company's family of Training Aids, Devices, Simulators, and Simulations (TADSS) has been selected to support training for Army National Guard units operating the RQ-7B Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS). Awarded by the U.S. Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation in Orlando, Florida, the initial order, valued at $11.9 million, includes 25 high fidelity Shadow Crew Trainers (SCT) and interactive multimedia instruction.
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Satellites on the Move at APSCC
It's a First — APSCC conducts a military satellite services workshop. Much history takes place over a decade, and the APSCC 2008 Satellite Conference and Exhibition is no exception. Known as APSCC’s flagship contribution to the satellite industry, the conference has been providing a globally integrated platform that covers every sector of the satellite industry as well as a unique briefing and networking opportunity to the participants of the event. This year the APSCC 2008 event, scheduled for September 22-25 in Jeju Island, at the Lott Hotel, will be launched on a bigger platform covering more issues than ever regarding the Asia-Pacific satellite industry.
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August 27, 2008
UAV Deconfliction Demo'd By Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Airspace Management System (UAMS) solved one of the more difficult challenges facing military services and their industry partners — the Company has successfully demonstrated the ability to deconflict groups of in-flight UAVs during a test near Pittsburgh, Pennyslvania.
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DataPath To Continue Field Services In Iraq
DataPath, Inc. has been awarded $1.9 million to continue providing field services for DataPath Deployable Ku Band Earth Terminals (DKETs) at a key communications hub in Iraq. The DKET systems were built and installed by DataPath and are used by the U.S. military as critical satellite communications (SATCOM) hubs that deliver high-bandwidth capabilities on the battlefield.
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August 26, 2008
Endurance Record Attained By Solar Powered Zephyr UAV
Zephyr's reputation as the world's leading solar powered high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been reinforced with a world-beating three and a half day flight at the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. The solar powered plane built by ered with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) under their Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) Program, which is designed to move urgently needed technologies rapidly into the hands of U.S. forces in the field.
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Reaper UAS Completes First Weapons Engagement In Iraq
An MQ-9 Reaper dropped a 500-pound bomb against an anti-Iraqi target Aug. 16 in one of the first weapons engagements for the unmanned aircraft system. The Reaper began flying combat sorties in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom July 18th and joined the MQ-1 Predator as another UAS (unmanned aircraft system) patrolling the sky to protect coalition forces.
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Any Interest In Invisibility? (Off Topic, But Intriguing, To Say The Least)
Invisibility has long existed in the realm of imagination and fantasy, but for Army scientists and researchers studying ways to apply the latest technology to save Soldiers' lives, fantasy is slowly becoming a reality. Dr. Richard Hammond, a theoretical physicist who works in Optical Physics and Imaging Science at the U.S. Army's Research Office, participated in a blogger's roundtable to discuss the developments in the field of negative index materials research and meta materials.
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KVH Stays on Trac and Gives Free Boost to Mini-VSAT
KVH's [Nasdaq: KVHI] newest satellite communications compression technology now offers a free additional boost to mini-VSAT Broadband data rates for TracPhone V7 users. Already a popular item, the TracPhone V7 is a compact size, has a rugged design, offers lower costs, and speedy broadband data connections, which is appreciated by both leisure and commercial mariners. The newTracPhone V7 and mini-VSAT Broadband service from KVH Industries, Inc., supports Internet and Voice over IP telephone services at sea.
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August 22, 2008
UAS Development Does Mean To Stare
AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) (NASDAQ: AVAV) announces the receipt of $4.6 million in funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) capable of performing “hover/perch and stare” missions. The Stealthy, Persistent, Perch and Stare (SP2S) UAS is based on AV’s small Wasp UAS, a one-pound, 29-inch wingspan battery-powered air vehicle that is being procured and deployed by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps.
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Fire Scout Completes First Flight
The U.S. Navy is moving closer to conducting Technical Evaluation with its Northrop Grumman Corporation-developed (NYSE:NOC) MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV). The Fire Scout recently completed its first flight with the BRITE Star II(r) electro-optical/infrared payload using a Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL).
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August 21, 2008
ARTEMIS Sees All
Coming to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia is a first — the Tactical Satellite-3 mission is scheduled to demonstrate rapid data collection and transmission to the combatant commander in the theater of interest. During this upcoming flight a new capability will be demonstrated and tested; that of employing a hyperspectral imager with a space-based, onboard processor to obtain and send images within minutes to the warfighter on the ground.
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UAV — Military's Methusala
Quite an accomplishment, and it does its job quietly. The MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft system surpassed 400,000 flight hours during a mission in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility on August 18.
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August 20, 2008
Hub-nubbing With VT iDirect
VT iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a subsidiary of VT Systems Inc (VT Systems), has launched its Series 12200 Universal 4-Slot Industrialized Hub, which allows network operators to implement and manage a mobile satellite network in the field. The new 4-slot hub will operate using iDirect’s enhanced iDS 8.3 software, engineered for use in mobile applications. The software also supports iDirect’s new SkyMonitor Spectrum Analyzer, a core network management tool that allows satellite operators to troubleshoot and monitor network performance.
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Hypres Hankerin' To Help ONR With Digital-RF Goodies
Hypres Inc. has delivered two Digital-RFTM receiver systems to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research (ONR). The systems are designed to serve as versatile test beds for evaluating Digital-RF technology for wireless communications applications such as satellite and tactical communications, signals intelligence, electronic warfare, and software defined radio.
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BBN Technologies To Stabilize Milcom Connectivity
BBN Technologies has been awarded $8.9M in funding by the Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the third phase of its Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) program. This latest award follows BBN’s successful completion of Phases One and Two, which resulted in a working prototype system.
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WunderWAN Technology To Be Demo'd By Expand Networks
Expand Networks has announced the Company will demonstrate WAN Optimization over Low Bandwidth High Latency Links at the Defense, Communications and Information Technology event at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale from August 19th to August 21st. Product briefings and demonstrations will be conducted at booth 1213.
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August 19, 2008
Bringing Together The Milcom C4ISR Pros
GULF C4ISR is the only event for the Military Communication C4I/ C4ISR/NCW community, bringing together more than 200 government, industry, and military leaders, together with leading suppliers and industry experts, across an information packed 3 days of accurate, timely and cutting-edge military case studies. With speakers and research experts from across the Middle East and the world, you'll be able to meet many senior defence communication experts from the Gulf region. The purpose of the conference is to bring together practitioners, strategic heads of C4i, integrated project leaders, and technology leaders from defence organizations internationally to review the latest developments in this area.
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TSF Lands and Begins Urgent Satellite Calls
As soon as a few hours after landing in Tbilisi, Telecoms Sans Frontieres began its first humanitarian calling operations enabling Georgians displaced by the conflict to give news to their anxious relatives of their survival, and any other information. In this process more than 200 families who fled the bombings in South Ossetia and Gori made calls to a loved one from operations taking place in camps installed at Tbilisi airport or in schools of the capital.
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UAV Base Preference Voiced
Gen. John D.W. Corley, Air Combat Command commander, with concurrence from the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, announced today that Holloman AFB, New Mexico, is the preferred potential location for an additional unmanned aircraft system formal Training unit. This is the first step in a series of actions that could lead to the initial stand-up of FTU operations for MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper combat operators, estimated to start in 2009, pending a favorable environmental impact analysis.
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This Unmanned Raptor Leaves AirSpace For Inner-Space At USAF Museum
Officials from industry, the Air Force, and the National Museum of the United States Air Force, gathered for the opening of the new RQ-4A Global Hawk exhibit August 12th at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system (UAV) that sends near-real-time reconnaissance imagery to air, ground, and sea forces.
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Expand at White Sands
An opportunity to bring together the world’s thought leaders and visionaries in personal and commercial spaceflight takes place at the 4th annual International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, New Mexico on October 22 – 23 at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces. Gary Payton, Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force Space Systems is the keynote speaker, and a forum of the Key Issues Related to the Eventual Success and Evolution of Vehicle Systems for Suborbital Human and Material Transportation will be a part of the program.
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XipLink Optimizes The Heck Out Of Bandwidth
XipLink has announced a single board computer version of its wireless bandwidth optimizer, the XE-104. The rugged board can be used to rapidly integrate specialized satellite acceleration software into custom communication controllers for maritime, aviation and other mobile satellite applications. Historically, TCP accelerators have been deployed in MilSat networks using appliances that followed the SCPS-TP standard for interoperability.
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August 18, 2008
Northrop Grumman + Its Global Hawks Awarded NASA Research Contract
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center has awarded a five-year contract to Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) for engineering and technical services to support NASA's use of Global Hawk unmanned aircraft for Earth science research. The contract supports NASA's planned operation of two Global Hawk aircraft, their associated ground control station, and related systems.
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August 14, 2008
TSF Has Connections for Georgia
Ever ready to assist, Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) has been on alert since the conflict between Georgia and Russia began, and deployed an emergency crew of telecoms specialists to land in Tbilisi on Wednesday afternoon. This action came after five days of intense combat between both countries.
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Okeanos Explorer Is Dedicated to NOAA
Senior federal officials today in Seattle commissioned the Okeanos Explorer, the first federal ship solely dedicated to exploring the ocean. A former U.S. Navy surveillance vessel, Okeanos Explorer, was transferred to NOAA in 2004 and converted to perform ocean exploration.
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August 13, 2008
DataPath's COTM Commitment Results In MobiLink
DataPath, Inc. has introduced DataPath MobiLink™, an easy-to-deploy communications on-the-move (COTM) solution that delivers cost-effective, mobile network-centric warfare and first responder capabilities. MobiLink incorporates standard communications electronics and delivers them in a newly designed, compact package that enables integrated UHF/VHF land mobile radio (LMR) and satellite COTM.
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August 12, 2008
Sky Detective Is a Valuable Monitor
Sky Detective, Inc., a provider of advanced CDMA/GPS assisted real-time and on-demand tracking devices using web-based GPS monitoring software to track individuals and valuable assets 24/7/365 released the next gen, TenTwenty. This software locates, maps and tracks people, packages and equipment 105 percent faster than the monitoring software currently available on the market.
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New Actel FPGAs Can Handle Full Military Temperature Range
Actel Corporation has added new ProASIC3 and ProASIC3EL FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) to its military-qualified product offerings. Verified to operate across the full military temperature range (-55 to 125 degrees Celsius) and ranging in density from 600,000 to 3-million system gates, the new low-power devices are immune to neutron-induced configuration upsets ("firm errors"), saving board space and minimizing complexity in the system, Actel officials say.
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August 11, 2008
State Of Florida Proposed By Space Command To Take Over SLC 36
Air Force Space Command has proposed an action to make Space Launch Complex (SLC) 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, available for operational use by the State of Florida, subject to completion of the environmental impact analysis. The proposed action would grant the state access to the property under a real-estate license for an initial term of five years.
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August 8, 2008
ViaSat Continues IW Development For DISA
ViaSat Inc. received a $9.3 million award from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to continue the development of the UHF SATCOM Integrated Waveform Channel Controller. This second phase of the Integrated Waveform (IW) development enables demand assigned services on UHF SATCOM networks to support new applications that require better performance and higher channel throughput.
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DataPath Continues Milcom Ops With DISA Award
DataPath, Inc. has been awarded $1.7 million to provide field services support for the Ramstein Air Base satellite communications teleport operated by the U.S. Air Force.
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L-3 Technologies Travel's Well With New TWT
L-3 Electron Technologies, Inc. (L-3 ETI) has debuted their model 8923H dual-band 300W 30 GHz / 175W 45 GHz Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) amplifier. Designed for military SATCOM uplink applications, the new TWT has a remarkably small footprint and weighs less than four pounds.
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August 6, 2008
Boeing Opens Their New $10 Million Satellite Mission Control Center
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has completed a $10 million, 20,500-square-foot satellite Mission Control Center (MCC) in El Segundo, California. The MCC can manage up to four commercial or government satellite missions at the same time and replaces another Boeing facility in El Segundo that was smaller and had limited capacity.
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August 5, 2008
CAP's New Amplifier Suited To SatCom for Military + Homeland Security
CAP Wireless, Inc. has announced the debut of their CHPA0618-1 ultra-broadband power amplifier for broadband military platforms within the defense electronics and homeland security industries. The unit incorporates gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology into CAP’s patented Spatium™ broadband spatial combining architecture.
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Newtec Brings TelliNet Into Military Service With ND SatCom
Newtec has announced their Tellitec? IP Software product TelliNet has been selected by satellite broadband supplier ND SatCom to be integrated with the SkyARCS platform to provide fast and secure Intranet access via satellite to the Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces). ND SatCom Defence is the main supplier of military satcom solutions to the German Armed Forces.
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August 4, 2008
Flight 19 Terminated By U.S.A.F.
The United States Air Force's Defense Support Program (DSP) Flight 19 satellite, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), was decommissioned last Friday following nine years of service. Northrop Grumman personnel stationed at the company's Telemetry and Orbital Test Station in Redondo Beach, California, terminated the downlink to Flight 19 at the Air Force's command.
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August 1, 2008
Boeing To Power Up DARPA Program
A team led by Boeing [NYSE: BA] Advanced Systems has been awarded a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract for the first phase of the Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed (FAST) program. DARPA's FAST is a multiphase effort to design and develop a ground test prototype of a new High Power Generation Subsystem (HPGS) for spacecraft.
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Here's Looking At You—DigitalGlobe ImageAtlas
DigitalGlobe, a provider of high resolution satellite world imagery products and services, launched ImageAtlas 4.0. This is the newest version of its online store for high-resolution digital earth imagery, and enables companies in real estate, civil engineering, government, insurance, GIS and public safety to easily and affordably access on-demand satellite and aerial images of specific locations, properties and neighborhoods.
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ORBITZ
— DIRECTV — ITT Visual Information Systems — Juniper Networks — ONDAS Media S.A. — Raytheon Company — Strategy Analytics —
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Flight 19 Terminated By U.S.A.F.
The United States Air Force's Defense Support Program (DSP) Flight 19 satellite, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), was decommissioned last Friday following nine years of service. Northrop Grumman personnel stationed at the company's Telemetry and Orbital Test Station in Redondo Beach, California, terminated the downlink to Flight 19 at the Air Force's command. Flight 19 was launched on April 9, 1999 on a Titan IV launch vehicle with an Inertial Upper stage (IUS) rocket.
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July 2, 2008
Boeing Brings Environmental Success To GPS IIF
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has completed environmental tests of the first of 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellites.
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Americom Senses New USAF Contract
Space and Missile Systems Center, Developmental Planning Directorate (SMC/XR) Third Generation Infrared Surveillance (3GIRS) program has announced the award of a firm fixed price contract to Americom Government Services of McLean, Virginia, for $65 million.
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July 1, 2008
PCI + Others Help Family To Get In Touch With Service Personnel At Camp Prosperity, Iraq
In honor of July 4th and the sacrifices made by the men and women of the U.S. military, Proactive Communications, Inc. (PCI), TANDBERG, and the Freedom Calls Foundation, are proud to offer their video conferencing networks to families of Ft. Hood-based military personnel.
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Comtech Gets Motivated With Additional Army Contract Movement
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ: CMTL) announced its Maryland-based subsidiary, Comtech Mobile Datacom Corporation, has received orders totaling $5.6 million under its Movement Tracking System, or MTS contract, with the U.S. Army.
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