Inmarsat continues pace of innovation for Government users

03 November 2015: The pace of innovation in commercially-operated satellite constellations is enabling governments to increase their satcom capabilities more cost-effectively, according to Andy Start, President of Global Government at Inmarsat.

In his presentation at Global MilSatCom today in London, Mr Start outlined how Inmarsat is empowering governments across the world, announcing that Global Xpress services are now available for government users across North, Central and South America and the Atlantic Ocean, as well as Middle East, Africa and Asia, which has been in operation since summer 2014.

“Increasingly, we are finding our government customers around the world need to do more with highly challenged budgets,” he said.

Advanced communications

“The most efficient way to do this is often to leverage advanced communications and IT infrastructure to make better use of people, vehicle, aircraft and ships.

“We’re proud to help them achieve best-value by partnering with leading commercial suppliers to develop bespoke government solutions on top of their commercial networks.”

Inmarsat is at the forefront of this trend, having successfully launched the third satellite in its next generation, Ka-band Global Xpress constellation in August 2015, Inmarsat’s new satcom network is on course to enter global commercial service by year-end.

Latest innovations

During Global MilSatCom, Inmarsat will be highlighting the latest innovations from Inmarsat, which include:

• Global Xpress (GX): Three major governments now rely on GX as part of their mission critical communications capability and four other governments are actively testing the capabilities of the new network
• L-3 GCS Cheetah II type approval for GX operation: This lightweight, truly portable and ‘airline checkable’ terminal is embedded with the iDirect Velocity Global Xpress Core Module, 5W commercial Ka-band BUC, controller/processor and Ethernet switch. The GCS ViewSAT-e software provides monitor and control of the terminal through the use of an intuitive web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI). With over 1500 units of the predecessor sold, this lightweight solution is the highest performing auto-acquiring terminal within the Global Xpress catalogue and goes from case to network operation in less than 10 minutes.
• Successful extension of L-TAC into the aviation sector: Developed in response to market demand generated by the widespread adoption of UHF and VHF variants of the Slingshot applique, L-TAC is a further example of Inmarsat responding to the specific requirements of the government market. The release of the Aviation variant will complete the family of vehicular, man-pack and maritime solutions developed in conjunction with Spectra. The successful testing of the Spectra Slingshot Aviation Capability was witnessed by several major NATO members on fixed wing platforms (C130 and commercial platforms) and on the Black Hawk helicopter.

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