Iridium Government Services has received a $21.7 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity cost type contract to provide Phase II of the Netted Iridium satellite communication system to the U.S. Marine Corps.

The program was developed to enable Marines deployed inland to communicate at ranges over 200 miles back to the communications node at sea. Netted Iridium is a push-to-talk voice and data service, similar to the Nextel commercial wireless system, that was developed by Iridium and the USMC Warfighting Lab to provide rapidly deployable, over-the-horizon communications solution for U.S. troops deployed in remote locations. Phase I of the program began deployment of 18-20 handsets in Afghanistan in 2008, according to Scott Scheimreif, vice president for government programs at Iridium. That number is expected to climb to 1,000 by the end of 2009. Expected to be operational in 2010, Phase II of the program will enable soldiers to send data as well as voice; increase the capacity of the network; expand the number of “user nets” (groups of soldiers able to communicate simulatenous using handsets) from 250 to 2,000; and make the network more secure while increasing the coverage from 100 miles to 250 miles. Iridium will perform the Phase II work in Bethesda, MD (75 percent) and Tempe, AZ (25 percent), and expects to complete it by May 2014. Contract funds in the amount of $200,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, VA (N00178-09-D-3007).