Viasat has successfully carried out the initial satellite broadband upgrade aboard a Military Sealift Command vessel, marking a significant milestone in its broader initiative. The project, encompassing a total of 105 vessels, is part of a contract valued at $578 million, initially secured by Inmarsat in 2022 prior to its acquisition by Viasat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Military Sealift Command, responsible for facilitating ocean transportation for the Department of Defense, operates a fleet comprising approximately 125 civilian-crewed ships. These vessels play a pivotal role in replenishing Navy ships at sea, transporting military personnel and equipment, and strategically distributing cargo worldwide.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Under the upgrade program, Viasat is transitioning the ships\u2019 satellite network from Ku-band to its Global Xpress Ka-band and the ELERA L-band systems. This transition enables a dual-band network setup, with Ka-band serving as the primary broadband connection supplemented by L-band service in regions where Ka-band signals may be limited.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Steve Gizinski, managing director of Viasat Government Services, emphasized that the company is delivering a fully managed service to the Military Sealift Command. The preference for Ka-band stems from its perceived reliability in offering global coverage\u2014a key requirement for the Command\u2019s operational needs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gizinski, formerly with Inmarsat Government Services and now leading Viasat Government Services, highlighted the specific request from the Military Sealift Command for Ka-band connectivity due to its broader coverage capabilities compared to Ku-band. He explained that L-band service is necessitated in areas where Ku service is unavailable.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The broadband upgrade entails the deployment of two terminals\u2014an acquired Ka-band terminal from Cobham and an internally developed L-band terminal by Viasat. The MSC contract, spanning $578 million over a decade, encompasses the upgrade of broadband services, along with the maintenance and operation of the command\u2019s communications infrastructure, teleports, and terrestrial services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photo: U.S. Pacific Fleet<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Viasat has successfully carried out the initial satellite broadband upgrade aboard a Military Sealift Command vessel, marking a significant milestone in its broader initiative. The project, encompassing a total of 105 vessels, is part of a contract valued at $578 million, initially secured by Inmarsat in 2022 prior to its acquisition by Viasat. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}