Viasat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT) has announced the availability of ViaSat-2 satellite communications (SATCOM) service for government, defense and military applications.
The service leverages the advanced communications satellite, ViaSat-2, along with innovations in ground networking technologies, that will deliver significant performance advantages over any other commercial or U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) SATCOM system.
Artistic rendition of the ViaSat-2 satellite.
In early March 2018, Viasat conducted a ViaSat-2 SATCOM system demonstration — attended by representatives from the U.S. armed forces — and showed a number of cloud-based government applications. The speeds on the ViaSat-2 satellite system demonstrated the industry’s fastest broadband connections, exceeding 100 Mbps during the demonstration day.
The ViaSat-2 SATCOM system has the ability to:
- Transmit bandwidth-intensive, media-rich cloud applications: Fast data rates and more satellite capacity will enable 4K and HD video streaming to thousands of electronic devices simultaneously for greater operational capabilities at the tactical edge
- Conduct more simultaneous operations: Abundant capacity will enable warfighters to capture and send Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensor data; transmit live two-way video conferencing and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls; as well as conduct Command and Control (C2) and Situational Awareness (SA) communications as prioritized traffic to many more platforms in a region
- Continue operating through an electromagnetic, terrestrial or cyber-attack: Resiliency is provided through the ViaSat-2 system’s exceptional anti-interferer performance, Viasat’s unique Satellite Access Node (SAN) gateway diversity, seamless satellite switching and assured pattern re-routing to operate through gateway failures, and through Viasat’s Active Cyber Defense, which automatically detects, mitigates and attributes Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks against the network’s infrastructure. The resilient nature of the Viasat network will enable mission-critical communication packets to be protected and distributed safely, even in highly contested combat environments
- Provide assured communications: Viasat’s Best Available Network concept provides a global, redundant system for military to access Viasat’s global Ku-band networks, its more advanced Ka-band networks, as well as the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) system. The Best Available Network allows terminals to roam across multiple networks to maximize resilience and collaboration for ground fixed, transportable, mobile, maritime and airborne platforms
The ViaSat-2 satellite system validates the performance advantages and capabilities of Viasat’s commercial SATCOM system today with a glimpse into the Company’s ViaSat-3 SATCOM system capabilities. Viasat’s SATCOM network delivers more bandwidth and better resilience, redundancy and active cyber protection required to maximize operational performance in the contested environments military operations face during combat.
Ken Peterman, President, Government Systems, Viasat, said the company is proudly demonstrating emerging U.S. government concept of operations requiring bandwidth-intensive, cloud-connected military applications with our latest high-throughput commercial satellite, ViaSat-2. The innovations in the new ViaSat-2 satellite and network show that Viasat can dramatically improve operational capabilities for military missions. This SATCOM system is the first in the company's series of ultra-high-capacity global satellite networks, which will enable superior reach, readiness, and resiliency for global military forces.
