[SatNews] Bringing high-speed and high-volume comms to the battlefield...

General Dynamics C4 Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), was awarded a contract from the Global Broadcast Service (GBS) Joint Program Office at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts for the production of approximately 1,500 Transportable Ground Receive Suites (TGRS) and 1,110 retrofit kits for systems already in the field. The competitively awarded, five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract has a total potential value of $900 million if the maximum number of units is ordered. Made fully-rugged and designed for rapid deployment anywhere in the world, GBS TGRS comprises next-generation receive terminal antennas along with receive broadcast management and cryptographic equipment that is all packed into mobile transit cases. When deployed at the edge of the battlefield, the GBS TGRS enables decision makers and frontline troops in joint operations to receive mission-critical information. The systems equip tactical operators with high-speed, high-volume multimedia communications and information flow among forces deployed on posts or at stations, in transit or in theater. The majority of the work on the contract will be performed in Taunton, Mass. In addition, General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies in Richardson and Kilgore, Texas and in Newton, N.C., will provide the antennas, RF equipment and transit cases while workers for the company’s Computing Technologies business in Massachusetts will be responsible for equipment integration, packing and environmental testing.