Australian Defence Force to get dedicated UHF payload on Intelsat 22 satellite

Stuart Corner
Monday, 27 April 2009 11:51

Business IT - Technology

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is to purchase a specialised UHF communications payload valued at approximately $167 million on a future Intelsat satellite.

Intelsat will arrange for the construction and integration of the UHF payload with its Intelsat 22 satellite, due for launch in 2012 and is expected to operate the ADF payload and provide related services for 15 years following the launch.
 
Intelsat 22 will be built by Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems and will have 48 C-band and 24 Ku-band 36 MHz equivalent transponders, plus a UHF payload with eighteen 25-kHz channels.

According to Intelsat The UHF band is widely deployed for military satellite communications because of its adaptability to small, mobile terminals used by ground, sea and air forces. The ADF is purchasing part of the UHF payload and has an option to purchase the remainder. It will be compliant with US Department of Defense Mil-Std-188-181 and Volna Treaty (Russian) requirements for interoperability.

Intelsat CEO David McGlade, said: "This contract represents a milestone in the development of hosted payloads to support long-term government needs. As this ADF program demonstrates, every commercial satellite going into orbit creates opportunities for governments to deploy mission-critical capabilities, with significant cost benefits and quicker time to in-orbit operations."

According to Intelsat, hosted payload programmes offer government customers expedited access to space on an economical basis as compared to standalone military satellite programmes. "Intelsat routinely launches multiple satellites per year as it maintains its fleet of over 50 spacecraft that span the globe. By working with Intelsat, government planners have access to multiple launches annually in a variety of orbital locations, providing needed flexibility in terms of timing, location, and types and sizes of payloads."

Intelsat 22 will be positioned at 72º East longitude, over the Indian Ocean region, providing a footprint that Intelsat say is well suited to the communications needs of the Australian military.

•    ADF seeks new provider of Iridium services
The ADF also uses the Iridium fleet for paging, voice and data communications and has called for tenders with the aim of replacing its current arrangements for the provision of these services. It is seeking a contractor to provide Iridium "Dial on Demand" voice. Paging and data services, voicemail and SMS services Iridium phones and to assume management of the ADF's current fleet of Iridium phones.