Viasat Inc, a global leader in satellite communications (SATCOM), has officially announced a partnership with Embraer, global leader in the aerospace industry, to introduce and implement advanced hybrid satellite communications capabilities on the Embraer C-390 Millennium military aircraft.
According to certain reports, Viasat will bring to the fore its Hybrid SATCOM Approach (HSA), based on the dual-band, global aero terminal, GAT-5530 (known as KuKarray), for integration on the new C-390 multi-mission aircraft.
Hence, once realized, this integration of advanced hybrid SATCOM capabilities will provide increased operational awareness and enhance interoperability, data rate throughput, and resilient connectivity with Automated Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency (APACE) communication plans across multiple domains.
More on the same would reveal how Viasat will work with Embraer to support terminal integration on the C-390 aircraft, and therefore, cater to the need for differentiated and resilient SATCOM solutions that can support rapidly evolving missions of current and future global defense customers.
Talk about Viasat HSA for a second, it is specifically designed with an open architecture to facilitate agile and resilient communications. These communications, on their part, will allow flexible terminal integration to enable, according to each customer operational needs, multi-band, multi-orbit connectivity on Viasat’s networks, third-party networks, and access to private government networks including the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) network.
This means HSA tech in question should be able to provide secure and reliable satellite connectivity at the disposal C-390 aircraft with automated failover, thus enhancing operations with resilient broadband SATCOM which conceives operational flexibility and responsiveness required by the C-390 tactical mission.
“Viasat is excited to extend its relationship with Embraer and deliver a hybrid SATCOM solution on the C-390 Millennium platform. Our Hybrid SATCOM Approach design supports advanced airborne connectivity for defense customers seeking reliable, resilient satellite communications in contested environments,” said Victor Farah, Senior Vice President of Viasat Government Solutions and Services. “We are committed to working with Embraer to enable dynamic and scalable beyond-line-of-sight connectivity that supports mission requirements today and in the future.”
Turning our attention towards the role of dual-band (Ku/Ka) broadband terminal integration, it will offer global defense market, like we briefly touched on, an expandable, highly flexible, multi-network, multi-band, and multi-orbit SATCOM capability which can seamlessly traverse Viasat’s high-capacity Ka-band and global Ku-band satellite networks, and beyond.
As for the Embraer C-390 multi-mission airlifter, in its current shape and form, it provides customers with increased operational flexibility and responsiveness, logistical support across various missions and operations, while simultaneously powering a wide range of humanitarian and medical tasks.
“The C-390 offers interoperability and multi-mission capability off-the-shelf, and Embraer is consistently working to expand the envelope,” said Frederico Lemos, Chief Commercial Officer for Embraer Defense & Security. “The selection of Viasat’s hybrid satcom terminal is totally aligned with our vision to deliver reliable global connectivity and PACE communication to the end-users as these are important capabilities the customers reference in the mission requirements and a key differentiator for our aircraft.”
