North America News

ATK Wins Contract to Support DARPA SeeMe Program

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a contract to ATK to support the agency’s Space Enabled Effects for Military Engagements (SeeMe) program. Under the contract, the company will study the possible development of innovative surveillance technology for battlefield imagery.

ATK intends to transition advanced, imagery-processing algorithms used on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to space and take advantage of the resulting higher-power processing to save size, weight and power, as well as cost, on satellites. To accomplish this goal, the company has partnered with Logos Technologies and the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute.

KVH Targets Oil and Gas Industry with New Terminal and Service

KVH Industries is aiming to meet the demand for reliable, mobile broadband communications at remote well sites in the oil and gas industry with the new TracPhone V3-IP terminal for its mini-VSAT Broadband service. The in-motion antenna comes with compact, integrated belowdecks equipment built into a single 2U enclosure.

MDA Signs New Contracts to Provide Operational Support to Canada’s DND

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) has signed CA$3.2 million ($3.1 million) worth of contracts with the Government of Canada’s Department of National Defense (DND) to provide operations for the east and west coast Radarsat-2 ground systems. These ground systems support the deliverables under the Polar Epsilon project, the broad-area surveillance system delivered by MDA to DND last year.

In 2012 Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), on behalf of DND, awarded a one-year contract for operational support that included renewal options for an additional four years, the first of which was recently exercised. MDA will be providing operational support under this contract until March 2014.

Yahsat Selects Astrium to Provide Military Ka-Band to the U.S. Government

Yahsat has selected Astrium Services Government to offer Yahsat’s Military Ka-band service to the U.S. government. The service will allow any U.S. government or Department of Defense end user to access Yahsat Military Ka-band capacity, which is compatible with the WideBand Global Satellite (WGS) constellation.

Under the deal, Astrium Services will provide end-to-end services using Yahsat Military Ka-band capacity in order to meet DoD requirements on contract vehicles such as the Defense Information System Agency’s Future Commercial Satellite Communications (COMSATCOM) Services Acquisition (FCSA) program.

iGT Launches New Airborne Satcom Solution

iDirect Government Technologies (iGT) has launched a new Airborne In-Flight Monitoring System (AIMS) for secure connectivity and monitoring satcom functions while in flight. The solution provides situational awareness and enables reliable command, control and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations. iGT’s AIMS displays locally to the communications officer on board, providing the real-time position of the aircraft and information on when it is leaving one satellite coverage area and entering another.