MDA to Supply Steerable Antennas for Airbus OneWeb Satellites

OneWeb Satellites’ Production facility in Florida. Photo: OneWeb, Airbus

Canadian manufacturer MDA has signed another satellite antenna deal, this time with Airbus OneWeb satellites for Ka-band steerable antennas, the companies announced Monday. MDA and Airbus OneWeb Satellites did not specify a specific program for the satellite antennas, but said they will be integrated into the Arrow smallsat bus line.

“We are pleased to be selected by Airbus OneWeb Satellites to support important applications for space and communications constellations,” said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA.

The antennas for AOS will be built, assembled, and tested at MDA’s satellite production facility in Montreal. This contract was added to MDA’s backlog in the third quarter of fiscal 2022.

This award comes after the Airbus U.S. Space & Defense subsidiary recently received a subcontract to supply Northrop Grumman in July to supply 42 Arrow satellite platforms for the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer award.

MDA was recently awarded a subcontract from Lockheed Martin which specified that its Ka-band, Link-16 antennas, and GPS antennas will be used for the company’s satellites for the SDA T1TL program. MDA also received a similar deal with York Space Systems for an unspecified program, but York Space is also building satellites for the SDA T1TL.