{"id":5097,"date":"2025-06-27T16:03:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T08:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/ast-spacemobile-and-fairwinds-achieve-worlds-first-ntn-tactical-satcom-with-standard-phones\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T16:03:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T08:03:47","slug":"ast-spacemobile-and-fairwinds-achieve-worlds-first-ntn-tactical-satcom-with-standard-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/ast-spacemobile-and-fairwinds-achieve-worlds-first-ntn-tactical-satcom-with-standard-phones\/","title":{"rendered":"AST SpaceMobile and Fairwinds Achieve World\u2019s First NTN Tactical Satcom with Standard Phones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AST<\/p>\n

AST SpaceMobile, the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones, designed for both commercial and government applications, announced the successful demonstration of the world\u2019s first Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) tactical satellite communications delivering high-throughput data, voice, and video using unmodified mobile devices in collaboration with Fairwinds Technologies (a privately held company).<\/p>\n

The field test showcased key defense-related use cases, including real-time connectivity to the Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) over a VPN, multimedia streaming via TAK, and secure multi-party video calls, all executed on standard, unmodified smartphones. This milestone demonstration was conducted near AST SpaceMobile\u2019s gateway facility on Oahu, Hawaii, with active participation from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), including representation from the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Army, U.S. Space Command, and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E) FutureG team.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AST SpaceMobile collaborated with Fairwinds Technologies on this demonstration. Fairwinds is a trusted partner providing program integration and military tactical network support as AST SpaceMobile explores direct-to-device satellite communications for U.S. government and defense applications.<\/p>\n

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Also Read: What is the State of Satellite Access Network Standardization in 3GPP?<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

This effort follows the recent award by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to the Fairwinds\/AST SpaceMobile team under the Hybrid Space Architecture 2 initiative within DIU\u2019s Space Portfolio. The project is jointly supported by DIU\u2019s Cyber & Telecom Portfolio and aims to evaluate the viability of space-based direct-to-device communications for resilient, secure tactical networks in denied or austere environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis demonstration represents a significant leap forward in advancing resilient, secure communications capabilities for the U.S. defense community,\u201d said Chris Ivory, Chief Commercial and Government Business Officer at AST SpaceMobile<\/strong>. \u201cWe are proud to help enable a new layer of mobile connectivity\u2014directly from space to standard smartphones, with no need for specialized equipment, in support of national security objectives.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cT<\/em>his is just the beginning,\u201d said Timothy Hillner, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Fairwinds Technologies. \u201cWe\u2019re honored to collaborate with <\/em>AST SpaceMobile<\/em> and the Defense Innovation Unit to deliver next-generation communications at the tactical edge – precisely where and when they\u2019re needed most. Together, we\u2019re enabling the future of command and control.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This was the first in a series of planned prototype demonstrations to evaluate space-based mobile broadband for defense applications, with additional testing, including over open ocean environments, planned in the coming months as the team continues to push the boundaries of multi-domain, space-based tactical communications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AST SpaceMobile, the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones, designed for both commercial and government applications, announced the successful demonstration of the world\u2019s first Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) tactical satellite communications delivering high-throughput data, voice, and video using unmodified mobile devices in collaboration with Fairwinds Technologies (a privately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[41,26,20],"class_list":["post-5097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-defense","tag-ground","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097"}],"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=5097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}