ViaSat [Nasdaq: VSAT] has received a contract from the U.S. Army to design and produce an enhanced bandwidth efficient modem for high-speed satellite communications. The contract, which includes the purchase of strategic (fixed) and tactical (shipboard) units valued at $7.8 million, will run through July 2005.

The modem will interface with a variety of legacy military communications equipment, while using advanced technologies, such as turbo coding and higher order modulation techniques, to increase efficiency and throughput. The new modems are designed to send and receive data at speeds from 64 Kbps to 155 Mbps.