Artistic rendition of the Athena-Fidus satellite, courtesy of Thales Alenia Space.
EMS Defense & Space, a division of EMS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELMG), has a contract with Thales Alenia Space to provide Ka-band redundant low noise amplifier (RLNA) switching hardware. The hardware will support the Athena-Fidus satellite (Access on theaters for European allied forces nations-French Italian dual use satellite), a French-Italian telecommunications satellite that uses state-of-the-art civil broadband Internet technologies. Under the terms of the contract, EMS is slated to deliver a ferrite switch and driver electronics to meet Thales Alenia Space’s 2013 launch date. Athena-Fidus will be used by the ministries of defense in France and Italy, as well as civil security agencies in these countries, including homeland security, police and fire departments. The satellite will also complement the capabilities already offered by other European cooperative architectures. As a result of the contract, EMS Technologies will have switching hardware in use on over 20 military and commercial satellites.